Spring Break?

Q: My high school senior wants to go with some of his friends over spring break to Florida. My husband says because he’s a good kid (no trouble with drugs/alcohol/smoking, kept up his grades), he’s inclined to let him go. I’m more concerned with what the other kids will do and that our son will get sucked into participating in something he shouldn’t. What should we do?

Image courtesy of Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A: If your son wanted to go to an unstable country, like Iraq, would you let him? Sending a high school senior, no matter the gender or “goodness quality,” over spring break to Florida is like sending him into a war zone. Florida during spring break is a veritable cauldron of excess: drinking, sex, drugs, etc. It’s difficult to think how any teenager could resist the numerous temptations that will present themselves to him over the course of a week.

However, there’s more than one way to skin a cat—or in this case, to solve this problem. Suggest to him that the entire family head down to whichever beach town his friends will be. He can spend the day with his friends, but with the family for dinner and the evening hours.

While this is a win-win situation for both of you, he might decide not to go by himself. In which case, you’ll spend a relaxing spring break at home.

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