"Yeah, my dad knows, but he doesn't tell me not to because he smokes and he doesn't want to be a hypocrite."
My jaw dropped at this and I had no idea what to say. Since then, I've had dozens of conversations with students and parents that ended similarly:
"I can't tell my son/daughter/athlete not to use drugs, because I did them when I was young..."
"It's tough to tell Johnny not to smoke, when I smoke too!"
Okay, here's the point - please print it out if necessary:
It doesn't matter what you did when you were young and dumb, you have a responsibility to the children in your charge to tell them "no" to the things destructive to their health and growth. If it bothers your conscience, GET OVER IT! ...and if you smoke or do drugs, isn't it time you stopped?
I already have this conversation planned for my son if it ever comes to that. It will go like this:
Son: Dad, did you do drugs when you were my age?
Father: If I say 'yes', you will use that against me and argue 'See Dad, you turned out okay and so will I.' and if I say 'no', you will say 'Well, times are different now', or 'But, you were a nerd.', or 'How could you understand if you've never done them!?'
So son, here's the deal - if you smoke or do drugs while living under my roof, I will kick your ass. If, after the initial ass-kicking, you do them again, I will hit you on the top of the head so hard that you will have to unbutton your shirt to do bong hits. I love you.
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7 comments:
Just so it's clear - corporal punishment is not what I'm advocating AT ALL. The part in bold is what I want people to take from the post.
Thanks for that Boris, I laughed out loud.
Having used drugs and copious amounts of alcohol in college, and now being the father of a three year old boy and a one year old boy, I know I will be facing a similar situation one day when the boys ask if I have used drugs.
I agree wholeheartedly- being a hypocrite is the absolute least of my concerns.
As to corporal punishment I think it has its place with certain kids at certain times.
I know the message I'll give to my nieces and nephews is:
Smoking cigarettes is the single stupidest thing I ever did.
My drug message is a little different, it's the one my father used that worked better than "don't". It was "don't be stupid." I smoked weed in high school and college, but I never did anything stupid - I never got caught, I never did it in public, I never got out of control. (We used to ask each other if we were ready to be in public before we went anywhere after a little doobage).
That way, I will remain the cool uncle that slips them a beer.
(I hope my sister never reads this)
Thanks Barry.
Thanks Paul - I can imagine you and your friends, all stoned, asking each other if you looked "sober": "Duuude, you look totally fine man."
Hey Boris, I am a huge fan of yours....I post on www.bodybuilding.net and I see you are a member too. Sir, I was wondering: is it possible to download all of your Squat RX videos onto my computer? I would really like to have them so I can see them all...I have only gone through a few and they have helped me improve my squat a lot.
Thanks a lot, sir.
_Wolf_
Thanks Wolf.
I've pretty much stopped posting at most forums, except the ones linked here. It just soaks up way too much of my time.
I don't generally send the files to people (unless you're serving in Iraq without access to YouTube - if you are, let me know).
I think there are ways to download YouTube videos to your computer (probably by uploading the YouTube videos to another site) - I know it's been done because I've googled the Squat Rx vids and found them on video sites other than YouTube (and I didn't put them anywhere else).
Let me know if you have any questions or constructive criticisms.
ok sir. i will look into that then :-)
thanks for the help...
and no, im not in Iraq...im in the states studying in texas :-)
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