The boy was 12. He had been drinking heavily since he was 11. He was tall and skinny and what his mom called “cute.” He stood outside liquor stores and paid a dollar to the seediest adult he could find to buy him liquor. How did he get the money? He used his allowance; he sold his clothes to other kids; he stole his grandmother’s silverware and got an adult to help him pawn it. He was 12 when his mom finally caught his hand in her purse and a pint of whisky in his backpack.
She tried taking his allowance away. He started shop lifting and selling the stuff he sold.
She tried checking his backpack. It took her months to find his next stash spot under the back porch.
She tried talking with him. He listened, said all the right things, and then went on drinking himself unconscious with his new friends, all older teens.
When she tried getting even stricter with him, grounding him for weekends, he started running away. Not far but the experiences unnerved and frightened his parents for him.
Finally, his parents woke him one evening and took him -- in his pajamas lest he run away -- to a state where a teen aged rehab center was alerted to expect him.
Finally, he got the message. He was going to have to learn to give up alcohol.
When a young person is addicted to alcohol or drugs, they are not themselves. They can’t make safe and healthy decisions without confrontation and/or intervention. They may say – even shout and curse they don’t need or want you, but they do now more than ever.
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