Claire - I wasn't responding specifically to you or anything so I apologize if I said something that made you feel I was attacking you. It just makes me sad that this is the world I would be bringing a child up in. Almost makes me not want to even try anymore. What's the point right? You can be the best mom in the world and your kid ends up getting pg when they're 16 and dropping out of high shcool to do drugs and work a dead-end job.

I understand that different things are socially acceptable, but a lot of them are also illegal. I'm well aware of the huge world, I still don't think that getting pregnant, doing drugs and getting drunk is acceptable for a 15 year-old. I just don't. Even if I can accept that it happens, I still find it reprehensible and detrimental. Not every kid is going to come out of that situation and be okay. As sheltered as I might have grown up, I have since seen my share of the world, and to be honest, I prefer the sheltered life.

I also don't think there is anything you can do to stop a teen who wants to be rebellious from being rebellious, but I 100% believe that environment is a huge part of shaping who we are. Since the people I was around didn't drink and smoke and have sex, I didn't either. It just wasn't something we as a group did. I had no access to them, or knowledge of them. Would I have done those things if I was in a different environment? Maybe, maybe not. I think a lot of parents give up control of their kids way too easily. You can't control environment entirely, but there are steps you can take to push them in the right direction.

I wasn't actually responding to anyone in particular, just in general. Though I didn't really care for the diminutive comment making it sound ridiculous to be a little "white bread" upper-middle class mom. That would be my mother, and I think she did an awesome job raising me even though she's never smoked a single cigarette or even seen an illegal drug.

I'm just crabby today, what with AF and all.

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