What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[Luke]

I kinda feel bad for the guy, he's called a "step father", I assume that has to be hard to put your foot down sometimes on a girl that's not your own. Who knows how long he's been in the picture?

I don't care if he's the kids babysitter, his comments were atrocious. All excuses and nonsense. And you don't go around saying you're going "whoop ass", you deal with your daughter, her poor decisions, and make sure she has learned her lesson.

[Stark]

I kinda feel bad for the guy, he's called a "step father", I assume that has to be hard to put your foot down sometimes on a girl that's not your own. Who knows how long he's been in the picture?

I don't care if he's the kids babysitter, his comments were atrocious. All excuses and nonsense. And you don't go around saying you're going "whoop ass", you deal with your daughter, her poor decisions, and make sure she has learned her lesson.

I'm not excusing his actions, but I would also want to discipline my daughter as well as anyone who sold her something illegal. I would agree with you that this is a failure of parenting, it just made me wonder if being a step-parent had anything to do with reluctance to discipline properly.

[Blu]

Following that same logic, you could extend it to adoptive or foster parents. And I'll preface that I'm not putting words in your mouth, because I don't think that's what you intended, Stark. Beat me to it. But I think the mentality is that because the child isn't my kin or blood, means I am fairly off-the-hook when rearing of children is concerned. Even if you're new to the picture, you can still be a good role model. Who knows what that kid experienced previously, but you can still make a difference.

But damn, synthetic designer drugs are some of the nastiest shit you could ever be stupid enough to put in your body. Perhaps if there was some better influence at home, this could've been avoided.

[foxhound1022]

Wow, all the crazy shit happens when I'm not around.

[dsheinem]

Where's the failure in parenting? He had had "not condoned" smoking, apparently explained consequences of being caught smoking (including grounding), and he was upset enough to want to beat up the person who sold it to her (which of course turned out to be a gas station attendant who did so legally).

"Her stepfather, who has been in Emily's life since he saw her in the delivery room, hopes he can spare other people his family's pain."

He seems like a pretty decent guy who's just struggling with a bad choice his stepdaughter made despite his efforts to try and get her not to. This is a VERY common scenario for anything parents don't want kids to do. Am I missing something?

[Luke]

I'm not excusing his actions, but I would also want to discipline my daughter as well as anyone who sold her something illegal. I would agree with you that this is a failure of parenting, it just made me wonder if being a step-parent had anything to do with reluctance to discipline properly.

I could only speculate what it would be like to be a step-father, so you have me there.

But forget about the drug dealer unless he/she steps foot in my house, I'm dealing with the daughter first and foremost.

[dsheinem]

But forget about the drug dealer unless he/she steps foot in my house, I'm dealing with the daughter first and foremost.

Was he supposed to punish her on the way to the hospital or after she slipped into a coma?

[stickem]

i have a 15 year old step daughter. with all the morals and preaching about the decisions you make in life she still does someb of the dumbest shit. i can totally relate to the dude. i think she's trying to kill me and my wife.lol

[Blu]

Where's the failure in parenting? He had had "not condoned" smoking, apparently explained consequences of being caught smoking (including grounding), and he was upset enough to want to beat up the person who sold it to her (which of course turned out to be a gas station attendant who did so legally).

"Her stepfather, who has been in Emily's life since he saw her in the delivery room, hopes he can spare other people his family's pain."

He seems like a pretty decent guy who's just struggling with a bad choice his stepdaughter made despite his efforts to try and get her not to. This is a VERY common scenario for anything parents don't want kids to do. Am I missing something?

"not condoned" =/= explaining the effects it has on your body. Creating an understanding or awareness when combined with consequences for actions is a much better approach. Who knows how in depth their discussion went.

Was he supposed to punish her on the way to the hospital or after she slipped into a coma?

Wow. Even if the girl smoked marijuana, he clearly knew about it. And while there's health risks for smoking marijuana, the risks of using any synthetic drug are much more dangerous. There was (hopefully) some time to take a more proactive approach on the topic, I don't know, maybe when children start to think about experimenting with drugs.

[Luke]

Was he supposed to punish her on the way to the hospital or after she slipped into a coma?

After she got out of the coma.

Am I missing something?

"Bryant already knew she used real marijuana occasionally. "It's not that I condoned it," he said, adding that he couldn't follow her around all day. Bryant enforces a strict no-smoking rule in the house, and said that if he ever caught Emily smoking, she'd be grounded."

I'm not saying teenagers aren't a pain in the ass and always follow the rules, but if I had a teenage daughter that I knew was smoking pot "occasionally", that issue would have been nipped in the bud and she wouldn't have purchased synth weed. She should have already been grounded.

Kids are going to do what they want and rebel, but after school hours, sometimes you do have to "follow her around" all day. And being grounded these days is like getting a private vacation.