Drinking and Driving

Please talk to your kids and then talk some more and then still talk some more about drinking and driving. My son isn’t even old enough to drive but we talk to him a lot, like beating a dead horse, a lot about what to do in uncomfortable situations with friends. I don’t hold back either. I don’t lie to him telling him we won’t be angry if he’s been under the influence but I make sure he knows that we want him alive and not taking risks with his life. We have brought up many scenarios with him, at the young age he is, asking him what he would do and showing him the better way to deal with them if his answer is one that could get him in trouble/hurt/possibly dead. Please talk to your kids a lot and keep lines of communication open. Help them understand that they are not invincible. Help them know as a parent your objective is always their safety. No matter what, having a parent upset with you and being alive is a way better option than taking risks with your life that could end in death. It’s sad that these kinds of conversations/posts always seem to happen after a tragedy has occurred. A young teen with their whole life ahead of them had their life snuffed out this past weekend because they were in a vehicle with a drunk driver. My heart sunk reading it in the news. My heart felt so deeply for the parents of the teen then I read the name of the teen. I knew her when she was my sons age or maybe a little younger. I went to the same church her family goes to. Her family is amazing. I have no doubt that they talked with her about what to do in that kind of situation. I had several friends die in a drunk driving accident my senior year of high school. It shook our school. These were good kids who made poor decisions. It could only be one drink and you think I’m in control or you think the one driving is ok because they only had one beer. They aren’t staggering or anything so they must be fine to drive. One drink is all it takes for you not to be 100% alert behind the wheel. Please beat the subject into the ground with your kids. You’ll probably get eye rolls because they are hearing it for the 100th time. Drill it and drill it some more. You may just save your kids life and the lives of other teens because of the conversations you have with yours. And don’t take for granted for even one moment that because yours is a Christian home that your kids won’t make poor choices. It happens. It happened this past weekend to a teen who has been raised in a devout Christian home. 

This is how I remember her. It’s how she looked last I saw her when she was a young child.

This was her profile picture on Facebook. Beautiful girl. Just 17. Probably her senior year in HS and it may have even been Prom night. I’m not sure. I do know her life has been snuffed out. And it’s so sad and heartbreaking. 

DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!!!  SAVE LIVES!!!  TALK TO YOUR TEENS!!!  DRIVE IT HOME AND DRILL IT INTO THE GROUND DEEP!!!