Coming of age

The weeks before the birthday party, things were spiraling out of control and the family could not do anything about it. Mindy the daughter was turning eighteen in 4 weeks and she was determined to taste and experience any and all mind and mood altering substances she could get her hands on. The list were horrendous

• Eckies [ecstasy tablets]
• pot smoking
• cocaine
• paint sniffing
• alcohol
• cigarettes

Mindy is from a broken family, she has 2 brothers one older and the other younger then her. They were all brought up by their mother. The Father did not play a major role, Sandy who is the mother of Mindy got divorced from her father when she was very young. The formative years of any child can take a beating if we are not careful and however much we try to change the way we are towards our children later in their lives, it is inevitable that there will be some emotional scarring. This is not to say that little Mindy was not well cared for, she certainly was and her mother did her utmost for her young children. Regardless of what people might think, children need both parents to have a rounded outlook of life. If the Dad is not able to provide this role then a good strong male role model would be ideal.

Mindy started smoking pot when she was thirteen years old, she left school when she turned 16, her drug addiction continued, at first in secret. She would smoke pot and hang out with her friends outside, never in the house. Her mother was none the wiser, but as the addiction took over her life she did not care any more. She invited her friends over to her room in her mother’s house and they used the place as a drug den. She become a graphitie spray paint artist and proceeded to show how good she was by redecorating the drug den.

Mindy did not start out to be a drug addict, as any family would attest we all try to do the best we can for our children There is no guidebook that tells us exactly what we need to do to achieve the perfect result! We are all human beings and circumstances, location, family of origin and our sense of self worth all play a part in making our children the way they are.

The weeks prior to her birthday party was a constant dread for Sandy. She was not looking forward to it. It was not only the fact that her daughter and her friends were going to be so smashed, drunk and drugged, but the added burden of hosting the party at her house, knowing that it would be gate crashed by kids and it could end up in a big brawl as her neighbour’s birthday party did the week before. They had to call the Police and the whole street was a shambles because the kids were running up and down throwing beer bottles and garbage bins all over the place.

Sandy had often asked herself how it ever came to this. Sleepless nights and headaches were her constant companions. Her beautiful daughter had been morphed into something she hardly recognized at all! she had often questioned her sanity and at times was at a loss on how to deal with this demon addict that have taken over the house and ruined what shred of sanity she had left. Dear God, now she wants a birthday party!

to be continued