My Son Just Ripped Out My Heart!

**Bill in SD, CA** · April 24th, 2003, 09:53 AM

I can't believe it. With 7 weeks until graduation my 17 year old son gets busted at school for drinking. He said two of his friends "talked" (yeah right) him into joining them between periods to drink.

Gone are the scholarships. Kicked off the baseball team. Suspended for 5 days. Breathalyzer = 0.01%! Didn't even have a buzz!

So much for the 3.5 GPA now that this is on his record.

After all the thousands of dollars I spent on baseball equipment and lessons not to mention a lot other things that were bonuses in life to most people. My whole life literally revolved around his successes! And this is how he
F%*#ing pays me back!!

This is such a disappointment. I'm totally stunned. Don't know if I'll ever get over this.

Bill

**Blazer06** · April 24th, 2003, 09:55 AM

don't know what to tell you. my regretts goto you son.

Blaze

**surreal** · April 24th, 2003, 09:57 AM

I'm so sorry about his foolishness and I understand Bill. I have had worse problems with mine.

PM me if you ever need to talk.

**Bill in SD, CA** · April 24th, 2003, 09:59 AM

I'm literally sitting here with tears pouring down my face.

**Urban_Squrill** · April 24th, 2003, 10:07 AM

Sad. I am sorry man. I would do something but I can't.

**kenyg** · April 24th, 2003, 10:48 AM

woah - on school grounds during classes - not good.

Sorry to hear Bill. At least he's not expelled. Maybe he can play legion ball?

**osprey4** · April 24th, 2003, 10:50 AM

Wow, that's awful. I'd be devastated. What a price to pay for a little "fun".

**MDS** · April 24th, 2003, 10:53 AM

Sorry to hear this as kids will be kids and do things they shouldn't without thinking. Things will work out it will just take some time. I did many things worst than that when I was in school a long time ago but now a days things are more strict and hard consequences.

**Gouki** · April 24th, 2003, 11:05 AM

After all the thousands of dollars I spent on baseball equipment and lessons not to mention a lot other things that were bonuses in life to most people. My whole life literally revolved around his successes! And this is how he
F%*#ing pays me back!!

Well all we can hope for is that your son learns from his mistake...I hope that he understands everything you told us in your initial post.

**J-Excel** · April 24th, 2003, 11:10 AM

You are obviously very proud of your son's achievements or this would not bother you so much. I suggest weighing those achievements against this mistake. If this is the biggest mistake your son makes in life I would consider yourself lucky. And remember, he needs your support even in a time like this.

I hope things work out for both of you.

**draboo** · April 24th, 2003, 11:16 AM

hi there this is mrs. draboo, he said i can read these posts if i want, anyway rasing children is difficult but hopefully he will learn from this mistake, dissapointing as it may be for you it could have been worse, much much worse, we have an alcoholic, bipolar, unmedicated son and dealing with his life has been difficult on many occasions. I am grateful he hasn't commited suicide or ended up in prison ( prison came close, as did suicide). I hope you get over your anger soon for the sake of you both. sorry if this is long

**Knothead** · April 24th, 2003, 12:00 PM

Oh, Bill, I am sorry to hear.

But.....I can scarcely believe what I'm reading here....I mean, .01%??? What the hey is THAT about? Is this school administration running a perfect little ANDROID contest here, or what?!?

I'm not saying that what the boy did is okay, or anything, but still...

Teenagers are absolutely AWESOME at screwing up. It's how they LEARN, for Pete's sake!

What kind of school administration would come down so HARD on an otherwise good kid for such a dumb thing? What kind of pasty-faced, soulless power-mad "zero-tolerance" a-hole would so ABUSE his authority to signifacantly alter the course of a young man's life (not to mention what it's doing to his father) for what really amounts to a simple dumbass youthful indiscretion???

These heartless creeps, instead of having the simple patience (not to mention, DECENCY) to do their jobs (with respect to ahh....lemme see...oh, yeah, EDUCATION) instead rely on Draconian levels of punishment. Makes their jobs easier, I suppose. Education by FEAR! Jerks!

[/rant]

Okay. What you have to do is, go and talk with the Principal of the school, and see if you can work out something where the boy can sort of "work it off"....community service, maybe?

Whatever you do, don't listen to me. Be polite, smooth, courteous. Never use a cuss word (this kind of jerk will bust you on it and use it as an excuse to further abuse his power). See if you two, as grown men, can come to some kind of arrangement.

Resist your natural urge to pop him in the mouth, and I bet you can get the boy another chance. Good luck, Bill!

**surreal** · April 24th, 2003, 12:03 PM

That was good advice Knothead.

**BobOmega** · April 24th, 2003, 12:10 PM

not that this matters in the grand scheme of things or anything but. you can get a .01 by using mouthwash. if you gargle with it and get pulled over within i think its 30min it might be higher i dont remember. but cough surup will do that as well.
around here they just lowered the limits. over 21 its .08 and under its either .01 or .02 i wasn't paying at much attention in gov't class that day.

we had the mayor telling us about these things so i was listening but not taking notes.

if its his first screw up, it might be able to go away. that really dose suck though.

**Knothead** · April 24th, 2003, 12:15 PM

Originally posted by surreal
That was good advice Knothead.

That is very kind of you to say, Surreal.

I am mindful of your present circumstance with your boy....whew! They are something else, huh?

**Blazer06** · April 24th, 2003, 12:18 PM

if you eat my pancakes, you can get .01%. My pancakes hve a secret ingredient called let see vanilla extract which is 58% achol.

I hate school administrators that abuse their power like that. that have no right to their jobs.

my school would of given a 2 day suspension, and a 1 week suspension from baseball.

Blaze

**Toadman** · April 24th, 2003, 12:26 PM

I don't see how it would have any bearing on scholarships, unless it was strictly a baseball scholarship. BobOmega is right. You can get a .02 just from an adult dose of Nyquil. Do school admins run around with breathalyzers and metal detector wands in golf-carts all day? Likewise I would have to show restraint if I was in the same position, Bob. Your son screwed up and will suffer the consequences, but it's up to you to help with damage control with the Nazi school admins. It would take all I had to resist clutching an admins neck for ruining a college-bound kid's life for a little youthful indiscretion. We've all been there.

Funny how they want to repeal 3-strikes laws yet states actively enforce zero tolerance in schools.

Bob, if you'd like could you PM me the name/admin of the school?

**Knothead** · April 24th, 2003, 12:40 PM

Originally posted by Toadman
Bob, if you'd like could you PM me the name/admin of the school?

Hey, wait a minute, Toadman's got a good idea, there!

What if we sent this nazi-man some e-mails? You KNOW the guy's a politician who trembles at public exposure, right?

Let's write some "concerned citizen"-type letters, deploring this shameful waste of a wayward boy's...etc.

The will of this board is mighty!

I bet it'll work!

**BobOmega** · April 24th, 2003, 12:43 PM

i hope no ones looking in my direction... beacuse i get confused when i read things...

**GohanSSJ** · April 24th, 2003, 12:51 PM

I was reading this and i was thinking whats the big deal, now don't get me wrong, i don't see whats right about it, but damn these kind of things happen.
Ofcourse the baseball and suspension thing is crap.

What i would do is get your son and go to the head of the school and talk about it.