There's so much, as usual. I never speak about my kids but they are the lights of my life. We are going through the whole college process now (well, they are I am just sitting helplessly by). I am proud and concerned. Hope that I have given them the tools to flourish in the independent adult world and don't want to let go either. When I hear in the news that a college sophomore has vanished into thin air after a night of fun and partying, it makes me so unsettled and rattled to the core. Have I drummed it into my kids' heads to never leave a party alone or let a friend leave alone? Once you put a cup down, it's history? Every terrible story I've read, the female is left to fend for herself. Beginning with Natalee Holloway and currently with Hannah Graham, the University of Virginia student missing for over a week, both alone. Where were their friends? Where's the buddy system that parents have repeatedly expressed over the years?
Having a boy and a girl has made me keenly aware of the disparity between the sexes, but I think boys, too, should step up and make sure that their friends get home alright. It shouldn't lay at the feet of the girls only. The boys can step up and help keep everyone safe. I know how unfair it is that the rules are still different for girls and boys. I always thought it would be different by now, but inherently in the gender differences, it may always be unequal. Like Emma Watson's great speech at the UN last week, I, too think it's important that boys and men play a role in the safety and responsibility of their friends and acquaintances. It's unbearable as a parent to have to be the doomsayer to one's children. There are so many scary things in the world and none more scary than a bunch of young, drunk, drugged, out of control, testosterone/estrogen filled people. No matter how much we, as parents, preach the dangers of alcohol and drugs, there's only so much we can do to keep them safe.
Just in these past couple of weeks, three young NYC boys died from drugs and alcohol. THREE!! There's no chance they hadn't heard about the dangers to themselves and others. It's the same old story, everywhere you go. So as I am embarking to let go, I try to have faith in the strength and good sense that my children have versus the "evil" that lurks in the world. I am not the first parent to have these overwhelming fears and I won't be the last. Please give them all the foresight to make good choices.
Okay, enough for now. It is, though, the overriding cone of silence I am living with right now.
Sidebars: I've said it before and I will say it again, if you have HBO, watch or DVR John Oliver's 30 minute show on Sunday nights. It is both interesting and funny. Thought provoking. He speaks of many subjects that aren't in the regular newscasts or newspapers. The Voice still brings me so much joy and satisfaction. Jump in whenever you can. The Good Wife was better in its second episode of this season, so I am still watching. Madam Secretary is definitely worth watching. Great cast. Shark Tank came back last Friday. Great show to create discussions with your family. Mazel Tov to the Clintons on the birth of their first granddaughter, but does anyone wonder where Chelsea's in-laws are, the Mezvinskys? All the photo-ops are the Clintons. It's turned grey and cloudy here in NYC. Fall has arrived. Enjoy wherever you are.
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@DianaPodolsky
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