Monday, October 23, 2006

Is this necessary?

So this week is "Drugs are not for me" week at Benjamin's school. Every day they get to wear something to signify why drugs are bad. Today they wore clothes on backwards because... drum roll please "Drugs turn you inside out". As I was searching the house this morning for pants that wouldn't "itch" while worn inside out and simultaneously answering a million and one questions he had about drugs I got a little irritated with the whole thing!! Is it really necessary for kindergartners and first graders to be part of an anti-drug campaign? I mean come on - He doesn't even know what they are. And trying to explain drugs and their effects to a 1st grader - not so easy.
B: Mommy why do drugs turn you inside out? - I can see his boy brain working - picturing your internal organs on top of your skin...
J: (I'm thinking - you act crazy, sell your soul or your body or both, hallucinate, puke in public, curse, steal, act like a fool, etc.) "Well Benjamin you don't act right - you can be lazy, mean and crazy and all you think about is getting more drugs"
B: still slightly confused "Oh" - " but what about the drugstore"
J: "Well some drugs are good - like the ones that doctors give you - but if you take the ones from the doctor too much or the wrong way or if you get bad drugs from people that aren't doctors - that's bad"
B: slightly more confused - "oh"
J: Now my brain is churning - do other mothers actually call the drugs by name? Well Benjamin there is pot, heroine, crack cocaine, etc...? He is only six!
"Come on with your backwards clothes lets go catch the bus"

Now it’s not really the funny clothes thing that bothers me - the kids love that and its fun. But dramatizing the issue at school for a whole week? Does anyone else think that sometimes the "just say no" thing makes drugs seem cooler? If kids start hearing about it from kindergarten on they are going to have a pretty healthy curiosity by time they actually get confronted with the issue.
Now parents should talk about these things with kids - but saying it all the time and making it this cheesy thing could backfire.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you 100%! I mean, sure, we want to protect our kids -- and our grandbabies too! -- but lets protect them from things they understand first, like don't go with strangers, etc. Maybe I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack on some things, but I think they ("the system") push kids too much and too soon sometimes. Just the opinion of an old-fashioned but loving Nana!!

Kleanteeth said...

In my opinion it is the job of parents to teach their kids about drugs. That said, a lot of parents don't and it is them that blames school for drughead kids. So the school has to do something. Alcohol and cigarettes are also drugs in my opinion, those are the ones that first graders need to learn about.

Janie said...

Yeah I agree with the alcohol and cigarettes but once I had that talk and then Ella started lecturing people in public about smoking :)