The Choking Game

[the kabuki]

Not so fast. I mean, have all the kids you want, but just because they say one thing, doesn't mean they really believe that those things are all that dangerous. They tell us parents things to get us off their backs as often as they are really listing and understanding what we're saying. I still think my kids are vulnerable to all sorts of peer pressure. It is a fact of growing up, and all I can do as a parent is pay attention to what I see and hear and trust my gut. I keep talking to them and keep the doors of communication wide open.

I remember, as a teen, feeling like I had my mom completely fooled, and I did. But I looked like the perfect kid. Staight A's, honor roll, popular, etc. But the things I did to be popular would have been devastaing if I had been caught. Pressure to fit in is so incredible during that period of our lives, and we find ourselves doing things that we know our parents have warned us about, but somehow think that they are just trying to scare us, or they really don't know what it's like and so on. This is the point I try to impress upon my kids. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm not trying to keep you from having friends. I'm not some evil person who had children just for the pleasure of torturing them. (That point is the biggest stumbling block! ) I point out how everything we do, as parents, is to make sure they actually get to grow old, and when we tell them that something is dangerous, it is because it is. Period. And if they choose to ignore us, they may not get to be "tortured" by us ever again. You know, no more Disney cruises, trips to Cedar Point, overnight visits with their best friends, yummy meals, bar-b-ques, gelato, video games, and all those awful things we do to torture them. I also pray hard that they believe I love them more than air, and that is something that they can't get from anyone who would ask them to do something dangerous.

Wonderful advice and a great reminder to us parents who may have forgotten what it was like to be young and stupid!

Never heard of this going on when I was in school 15 yrs ago, but thanks for the heads up. With our oldest DD starting Jr high, any info is good info!

 

[tlgoblue]

Wonderful advice and a great reminder to us parents who may have forgotten what it was like to be young and stupid!

Never heard of this going on when I was in school 15 yrs ago, but thanks for the heads up. With our oldest DD starting Jr high, any info is good info!

Hello fellow Michigander! (Spent my summers on Harsen's Island) Maybe our experiences were similar. I may be old, but I'm not so old I don't remember.

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

We did this as kids at slumber parties. We also stood against the wall took several deep breaths and had someone push our chest in similar to CPR to make us pass out. Boy were we stupid but I'm not suprised it's still going on after all this time.

 

[the kabuki]

Hello fellow Michigander! (Spent my summers on Harsen's Island) Maybe our experiences were similar. I may be old, but I'm not so old I don't remember.

Harsen's Island is not too far from us. Do you remember ever hearing of this in our area? Am I just totally out of it? I can't recall anyone ever doing this. Wonder if it was more localized throughout the country?

 

[ZachnElli]

I grew up in Iowa and remember hearing about this in middle school about 20 years ago. I'm now in Idaho and we've lost 2 children here locally since spring doing this. The first was a 14 year old girl, the second was a 10, yes 10 year old boy!! This is very serious, scary stuff! I have a 10 year old boy and can't fathom him doing it, but we've had a talk about it.

 

[tlgoblue]

Harsen's Island is not too far from us. Do you remember ever hearing of this in our area? Am I just totally out of it? I can't recall anyone ever doing this. Wonder if it was more localized throughout the country?

I grew up in Suburban Detroit, and yes I knew people who tried this, myself included, but I didn't do it right or something, and neither died most of the others, thank goodness. It never really caught on, at least not in my neighborhood.

 

[Serena]

I had never heard of it.

 

[sue1013]

I had never heard of this when I was in school. Three years ago our local HS was on the news because of kids doing this. The report was about freshman doing this. My FIL was here when the report was on. He said "We used to do that when I was in school it's nothing new". FIL is 75 and only completed 8th grade so it has been around quite a while.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

I am 31 and had never heard of this untill it was on the news recently.

 

[SarahPacatte]

http://StillLovingMyGabriel.com