Kids SHOULD drink and experiment with pot; it’s part of the growing up process.

Wow how old is this argument… you can do anything and look up anything on the internet… why are people complaining now? Same thing with making a bomb, joining a cult, converting a gun to automatic…its all out there. Hell you can go watch comedy central and they smoke all the time on Chappelle show. It’s out there and too hard to block such content. Like Mike said, “its part of the growing up process”. They should do more comercials on what can happen when you get high or drunk. I know it worked for me and smoking cigarettes… all the pictures of people with holes in their throat, mouth and all. Sure sent a message to me. All they do now is say don’t do it. Well kids are going to expirement and find out their own way.

Kids should only experiment with that crap when they’re old enough and mature enough to know the consequences. I started drinking and having a good time at 19. Underage, no doubt, but mature enough to know that I wasn’t invincible and that if I screwed up it would haunt me for life. Too many kids now are given the OK to experiment and screw up but aren’t near old enough or mature enough to learn from those mistakes and they keep repeating them. From some of the situations I’ve seen this is because the parents are screwups also.

I love you, Mike Sharpe

I’m not gonna say kids “SHOULD” experiment with drugs and alcohol but for the most part it is an inevitability that every parent will have to deal with at one point or another. Realistically trying to filter out what you children see on the internet, while a noble cause, is probably offset by the fact that your average teenager is much more technologically inclined than your average parent. In the end they are gonna be exposed to these elements of socitey sooner or later. Whats more important is the example you set and how you deal with issues when they arise. Keep fighting the good fight…

I got high way before Al Gore invented the internet. The only change had it been there, is wikianswers would have told me not to bother with banana peels.

All I can say is that if that is what parents are worried about, they should re-examine their parenting skills and priorities. If a child is looking up these videos and ‘how-to’ clips, they’re most likely already interested or partaking in said activity and are looking for ways to make it more fun or interesting. When I was in high school we didn’t need videos to show us how to make bongs and pipes, we already knew! We used everything from ice cream containers and milk gallons to apples (yes, apples!) to get high. We didn’t need MySpace or FaceBook or YouTube to teach us. No content filter, no history-searching, no amount of parental shielding is going to keep kids from learning this stuff. Every other kid in school knows it already and is MORE than willing to share it. Just raise your kids right and allow them some room to be kids and teenagers. Remember, you weren’t perfect and if you think you were, sit there while your kids ask YOUR parents how you made mistakes in high school. And don’t interrupt your mom and dad when they snitch on you like an informant.

“if your kid has to get online to find out how to get high, don’t worry, they’re NOT getting high.”

This is for Mike “retard” Sharpe,
What an idiot. I hope you are not inbreeding with your sister(Hamsauce) and spawning retards like yourself. Obviously you have NEVER “grown up” yourself.

I think this is a cop out for parents. If you are active in your kids lives then they will turn out OK. Don’t blame too much TV or too much internet. Be a part of their lives and show them right from wrong. Stop blaming others.

The only retards out here are Jerry’s kids.

Jerry, get down off your horse. It’s too tall and you might not be able to recover from the fall.

First, the computer should be a family tool therefore put into the family room until the child/teen has earned the trust and gained the maturity to know what the internet is used for. Second, a teenager is going to have to be let go sooner or later. I am not condoning a parent coming home one day and say, “Jimmy, come see what mommy and daddy got for you and we will show you how to roll it and smoke it,” but have an open dialogue with your child from the first day they hear your voice. Third, the best learning tool is by example. To put it simply, let your child know you did this and you did that and then you learned that it was not a wise choice, but that is how mistakes teach a person something. Be a leader and know that whatever you do and condone, your child will assume that is the norm.

Wake up Steve. You can only do so much as a parent and if you think otherwise you either got lucky or have no kids. My brother and I are 14 months apart in age. No divorced parents, grew up in catholic schools and churches, same public highschool, some of the same friends, did all the same drugs. Today I work in corporate America (unfortunately), but do very well, have a house, married, and then you have my brother who is in his 4th tour of rehab trying to battle his drug addictions. YOu honestly think we were raised differently? No! Kids will be kids and people will ultimately turn out based on THEIR own good or bad decisions.

Mike Sharpe is an idiot. I’ve never smoked anything and I doubt I missed out on any “growing up” as a result. My brother smokes weed on a daily basis, since he was 13, and I don’t fault him for his life’s choices, but I do recognize the fact that too many bad things happen to kids who make the choice to experiment with alcohol and drugs. We need to legalize, regulate, and tax the hell out of it. I know enough pot smokers that the taxes on legalized drugs would probably pay off our deficit in the first year. What consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes, so long as no children are affected, is up to them. However, children need to be protected and if people like Mike are handing them beer and pot and telling them to “grow up”, then geez-louise, we are in trouble. Mike, please do not ever breed.

With all due respect folks, you can’t let kids experiment and learn the lessons. Their brains are not mature enough to make solid decisions, and the fatal mistakes they make hurt the survivors, not them.

It doesn’t do any good to limit them, they just get it from someone who hasn’t been limited. Our teens are going to grow up too fast and make very poor decisions due to the internet.

Where is Mayberry RFD? The lost good old days…