I'm glad there's a sane person left on this planet when it comes to childrearing besides me and my husband!
We are good friends with a couple who have a daughter, almost 16, who is 6 months younger than my daughter; they are so close they call each other "sister," even on Facebook. Until very recently, M was not allowed to read a book until her mother had read it first and gave her approval. She was not allowed to read all of the Harry Potter books, only those in which Harry was no older than M. (Of course she read them all in pieces at the school library, the local library at which she volunteers, and at friends' houses. Same for other forbidden books.) When we mentioned to her mother in passing that the mob of girls at the sleepover that was just ending had stayed up till 2, M was forbidden to go to sleepovers or have any of her own for a year because she had stayed up past 11, a dictate we knew nothing about and which seemed pretty early for a 13-year-old at a sleepover.
There were all sorts of other perplexing and limiting rules placed on M by a woman we though we knew well and who we liked very much. You will no doubt not be surprised to learn that M became depressed, which her parents brushed off as "teen-age angst" when she told them how she felt. Eventually, after she literally begged to be taken to her doctor, M began taking antidepressants. It backfired, because although the poor kid felt somewhat better, her parents became more restrictive. Eventually she made a suicide attempt and spent two weeks in a psychiatric unit for teens.
The drama is by no means over. She's taken to using her mental illness as an excuse for all kinds of things, for example. I hate to think what will happen when M goes away to college, as she wants to do, rather than go to the local state school. I think a previous poster's phraseology "hit 18 and run flat wild" (beautifully but, starcat jewel) is what will happen. At least we're around to help pick up the pieces, because we all love M.
Keep up the good work! My daughter and I love your books. And please, brush this post up and submit it to major publications!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-06-08 03:10 am (UTC)We are good friends with a couple who have a daughter, almost 16, who is 6 months younger than my daughter; they are so close they call each other "sister," even on Facebook. Until very recently, M was not allowed to read a book until her mother had read it first and gave her approval. She was not allowed to read all of the Harry Potter books, only those in which Harry was no older than M. (Of course she read them all in pieces at the school library, the local library at which she volunteers, and at friends' houses. Same for other forbidden books.) When we mentioned to her mother in passing that the mob of girls at the sleepover that was just ending had stayed up till 2, M was forbidden to go to sleepovers or have any of her own for a year because she had stayed up past 11, a dictate we knew nothing about and which seemed pretty early for a 13-year-old at a sleepover.
There were all sorts of other perplexing and limiting rules placed on M by a woman we though we knew well and who we liked very much. You will no doubt not be surprised to learn that M became depressed, which her parents brushed off as "teen-age angst" when she told them how she felt. Eventually, after she literally begged to be taken to her doctor, M began taking antidepressants. It backfired, because although the poor kid felt somewhat better, her parents became more restrictive. Eventually she made a suicide attempt and spent two weeks in a psychiatric unit for teens.
The drama is by no means over. She's taken to using her mental illness as an excuse for all kinds of things, for example. I hate to think what will happen when M goes away to college, as she wants to do, rather than go to the local state school. I think a previous poster's phraseology "hit 18 and run flat wild" (beautifully but, starcat jewel) is what will happen. At least we're around to help pick up the pieces, because we all love M.
Keep up the good work! My daughter and I love your books. And please, brush this post up and submit it to major publications!