Today marks the third posting on my new advice column. What you need to do is read the problem and then offer your thoughts.
Mary and Jeff had three children. Their ages were 7,9 and 12. Both parents thought they had a hassle-free family. They were all loved in the community. They attended church regularly on Sunday mornings. The kids got good grades in school.
In fact, Jeff was a school teacher at the two younger kids school. He thought this was so cool that his kids waved to him in the hall and asked dad if he could go on school trips with them.
Mary was home one evening and was doing laundry. She was sorting clothes into different piles and checking pockets for anything that shouldn’t be washed. When she came to the 12 year old’s pockets, she pulled out a beaten up pack of cigarettes.
Her mouth gaped. Totally astounded, she put them in her pants pocket, and after starting a load of clothes she took the pack and showed it to Jeff. He didn’t know what to think. He said nothing for a moment.
Then out of his mouth the words came. ” I don’t think we should make a big deal of this Mary. What would people think if they knew one of our kids was smoking? Let’s just keep quiet and watch and see if we notice any more cigarettes.”
Mary said, ” Absolutely not. We need to nip this in the bud right now. We need to teach our children that smoking is bad for their health. Let’s call our 12 year-old in here right now and get to the bottom of it.”
Friends, what do you think?
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