Scared Straight program for girls?

[Roman]

Children

When I was 15, I thought I was madly in Love. Then things started going south, when my Parent's forbid me from seeing him anymore. I was actually going to dump this guy, but when my parents laid the law down, it made me sneak out of the house at all hours of the night. Their decision made me even closer to him, and futher from my parents.
As a Mother, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home to raise the kids. They are now all well in to their 30's, with Children of their own. They turned out pretty good, BUT...there were bumps in the road along the way. As stated in an earlier post, she will have to make up her own mind, and by forcing the issue..there may be some rebellion. Hopefully this is just a thing that she's going through, and in the end..she'll be just fine. There comes a time when we as parents, can no longer kiss the boo-boo's, and make them go away. Tell the Mom that she can call the local Health Department, and find out about some counseling, or a Peer-Group type thing that may be of some help.

 

[pelers]

:shrug: This is a tough situation for everyone involved. Odds are she will grow out of it, but whether or not she does that before permanent damage (criminal record, pregnant, etc) is done is always a toss up.

At about her age I was also a huge PITA to my parents. I knew best, bla bla bla. What cured me of it was moving out, actually. I moved out at 16 with my significantly older boyfriend. I had already graduated high school at that point, so the only school I dropped out of was college. My parents didn't approve at all so they gave me absolutely no help other than "When you're ready to come home we'll still have your room for you." Learning to hold down a job to keep the rent and electricity paid was a big eye opener. I learned more about responsibility in those several years of living rough than I did in all the years of living with my parents.

I did go back to college eventually. I got myself back "on track", perhaps a bit later than less problematic children/young adults do but I still feel that I'm much better grounded now and can handle just about anything thrown at me. If I hadn't gone out and learned things the hard way I really don't think I'd be as capable as I am now.

I know what I did obviously won't work as a reliable solution for everyone. I'd recommend just having the parents back off a bit and letting her make her own mistakes. Make sure she has birth control access (I know, not what everyone wants to hear but if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen and might as well make sure nothing permanent comes of it before she's ready.)