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Beer pong for adolescents, anyone?
November 9th, 2009, 1:55 pm · 18 Comments · posted by Marla Jo Fisher, Staff Writer
My 12-year-old son asked me this morning, “Mama, did you ever play pong?”
My middle-aged brain immediately interpreted this to mean, did I ever play Pong, the first-generation arcade game by Atari, where a little ping-pong ball bounces back and forth endlessly on a black-and-white video field that looks like a tennis court.
I told him, “Oh, yes, I played that game! Back when I was in college, my friend’s dad owned some machines he rented to restaurants and clubs and he would set one up for us to play for free.”
Cheetah Boy looked at me patiently. “No, I mean pong. Like, with beer.”
My first thought was, ‘How does a 12-year-old boy know about beer pong?”
Sheesh, I didn’t even know what Jello shooters were until age 38 when someone gave me one in New Orleans.
And then I recalled, when we watched “World’s Strictest Parents” recently, one of the rebellious kids was filmed secretly playing beer pong with her friends.
I imagine he also has other sources of information, as well.
My only hope is that those sources of information are not coming first-hand from his friends, at least not yet.
Nowadays, every time I let him out the door, or agree to let him down to the school three blocks away to skateboard with his friends, I worry he might be tempted to get into trouble.
Meaning, he might do the same stupid stuff I started doing at about his age.
I still vacillate between giving him more freedom and wanting to duct tape him to the front door, so he won’t have any opportunity to do anything he’ll regret. Or his mother will regret.
Right now, he still thinks he’s being wicked if he sneaks a forbidden Coke with caffeine. I recently caught him sneaking some of my morning coffee into his hot chocolate. Can the Hard Stuff be far behind?
In any event, I hastened to inform him that they had not yet invented beer pong back when I thought getting drunk and stupid was the most fun you could have on the planet, but I hoped he would have better sense.
He probably won’t, but I can only hope, right?
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It’s a shame you can’t just drill a hole in their heads and pour in “Wisdom”!
I remember my daughter asking the same sort of questions about a game called “Quarters”! As I remember… by bouncing a regular quarter off the table and into a cup… requires some drinkage from that cup by your opponent…er…. friend. Bet that went over well on Mom’s favorite coffee table.
Coach A
I still don’t get beer pong. I’d never heard of it until fairly recently. Nice to know I’m not the only mom who bans my kid from caffeine. Like they need any more energy.
Maybe it’s just me, but how does Beer Pong and Caffeine go together?
Caffeine is a drug I have tried to keep my children away from as long as possible until they are old enough to become addicts like me.
Yeah, it’s so wierd how we freak out about so many different addictive substances, but very few people think about caffeine at all. We are a nation of drug addicts. So much so that it’s considered normal for an office to provide free coffee to feed our addiction. I finally cut down to one caffeinated beverage a day, but even that’s hard. It’s like the one addictive, mood altering chemical that just slips under the radar. I mean, it’s certainly not as harmful as other addictive, mood altering chemicals, but it can’t possibly be healthy to consume the amounts the average person does.
(That’s basically how I presented it to my daughter - to be drug free, that includes caffeine in our house. The adults drink it because our parents didn’t know any better. That’s how crazy addictive this stuff is. You’ll thank us later.)
Both involve addictive, mood altering substances that are pushed on teenagers?
In my arsenal of ways to try to scare my kids, I tell them that when they are of legal age they can make that decision for themselves, but that is dangerous and more harmful to their brains if they do it when they are young. I also encourage them to consider not being an imbiber at all as an adult though I know this may not happen. In addition, I remind them that in all of our genetic heritages, mine, my husband’s and my children’s alcoholism runs in the family. (Like your children mine are adopted, but I explain that God often puts kids into families with parents who have special understanding of issues that might arise). Truth be told, I doubt there are many families where alcoholism is not found unless the families are Mormons or Christian Scientists or something going back for generations. But mostly, I talk to them all the time about the subject…that they WILL be tempted…that if it hasn’t happened yet it will, and I have encouraged them to have a response ready like, “no thanks, that’s not my thing..” that doesn’t sound too judgmental. I don’t know if any of this will work, but the people I know who’ve really gotten into trouble are those who never reminded their kids of the temptations and the possible consequences. Yes, I forgot another arrow in my quiver….if you are around underage drinkers you might get arrested and go to jail, possibly for the night. Now that is a scary one!
I have actually practiced with them what to say when they are tempted, and they practice it at school too during “Red Ribbon Week.” “No, thanks I can’t do that stuff, i do sports,” is the main one Cheetah Boy seems to favor. But he’s not much of an iconoclast, I feel pretty confident that whatever his buddies are up to, he’ll be up to as well. I have a friend who’s a child psychologist who told me I should just start randomly drug testing him now, then he can say, “I can’t do that stuff, my mom drug tests me.” but that seems a little severe! Right now I’m just relying on supervision and keeping him so busy with socially approved activiities he seldom has any spare time to get into trouble.
April is right on when she mentions the need to teach kids refusal skills when confronted with peer pressure…consider the following:
AVOID PEER PRESSURE
“Someone of equal standing”, would be considered your “peer”…
they’re the ones we hang-out with, now and thru-out the year!
“Peer pressure” is an influence, to belong to a certain group…
here’s advice to “avoid peer pressure”, read on for the scoop!
You need to think for yourself, and not just follow the leader…
they might be a bad influence, or they could be a cheater!
You’ll need to speak for yourself, you’ll be an inspriration….
becoming more assertive, more likely to resist temptation.
So lookout for number one, think of yourself as a solo act…
rate all of your options, and make yourself a pact!
Recognize “unsafe” choices, and practice “refusale skills”….
repeat the “NO” message, and don’t opt for cheap thrills!
Use the “broken record” technique, just continue to say “no”….
it’ll build resiliency for next time, and they’ll get the hint and go!
Say it for as long as it takes, and there’s no reason to shout…
keep saying “I don’t want to”, it’ll wear the other person out!
Be your own person, and stand-up for what you believe….
others will take notice, their admiration you have achieved!
Practice weighing both sides of an issue, and it won’t take long,
you’ll soon “avoid peer pressure”, so happy you’re singin a song!
Coach A
Hey gang, Am I the only one who reached for the dictionary to look-up “imbider”? Criminy sakes! and I’m a teacher what
M.A.D.D
“M.A.D.D” is a non-profit group, that deserves high-fives….
it’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and they’re saving lives!
The problem is under-age drinking, happening with frequent occurrence..
“M.A.D.D” is being proactive, in finding more deterrents!
First we should acknowledge, that the problem must cease….
it’s an unsafe activity, not merely disturbing the peace!
It’s flat-out against the law, and also not so wise…
even worse is the thought, that you’re ok to drive!
In order to be more responsible, you must be able to choose…
when to call a taxi, after you’ve had some booze!
Prevention starts at home, especially with Mom and Dad….
“Tough Love” is needed, and some guidance from “M.A.D.D”!
Friends care about each other, and peer-pressure is strong…
refusal skills are taught, and letting friends drive drunk is wrong!
“M.A.D.D” has a goal, to help prevent drunk-driving….
when you pitch-in, that message will be thriving!
So do your part, and make a smart choice….
and support “M.A.D.D”, and help give it a voice!
Coach A
Marla, a number of young college students have died due to fraternity hazing with consumption of alcohol. I think that Cheeta Boy does not want to have his brain damaged or die because of excessive alcohol consumption. Please remind him of the dangers of drinking too much alcohol, especially by a young person.
I almost died of alcohol poisoning in college. If there is any good that will come out of my rebellious youth, it’s that I have plenty of horror stories to scare the kids with.
There are soooo many bad things that come out of excessive alcohol consumption, from binge drinking to life time alcoholism. Have him watch a few episodes of Dr G Medical Examiner when she autopsies someone who died of an esophageal rupture due to alcoholism. They don’t show the yucky stuff, but the story behind the person is often an eye opener.
A friend of ours who had been a marvelously talented editor, writer and musician just self-destructed and died from long-term alcoholism. It was such a waste.
We may have an opportunity at the next election to allow people to make the safer choice of cannabis over alcohol. Please think about this rationally in the light of all this talk about the horrors of alcohol. Does the Mom Blog have an opinion on this? Thank you.
I must add, not an opinion on the use by children, just in general…