Reflecting back on our high school years, we probably all knew kids who tended to walk on the wild side. Within my circle of friends it was Bobby. His dad worked for an auto dealership, so the family alway had access to new cars. They were almost always the slickest and fastest. He drove those cars with reckless abandon. Bobby loved speed. His parents bought him a motorcycle. I recall the day he stopped by to show it off. Fortunately when he offered me a ride my mom was standing close by. "No," she said firmly. My parent were on to Bobby. They made it clear. I was not to get into a car when he was behind the wheel, and they definitely didn't want me riding a motorcycle with him.
I thought of Bobby last weekend. There was another tragic story on the news; another accident where a teen was killed while a passenger in a car. In this case the seventeen year old driver was driving at a high rate of speed. To me the most revealing comment came from a classmate. "Some kids just are not mature enough to have a license," he noted.
None of us want to be accused of sitting on the judgement seat when it comes to our teen's friends. Yet we can sense when one of their peers might be capable of putting themselves and others at risk. It behooves us to have a conversation with our teen. Ask for their impression of their peers. Which ones tend to make poor choices> Which ones tend to take risks that even scare their peers? We can't force our kids to not associate with those teens who tend to live dangerously. The fact is, those kids need friends who are a positive influence. But when it comes to putting their lives in the hands of those teens, they better consider the possible consequences.
Somewhere today there is a parent who wishes that they had had that conversation.
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