Notre Dame football recruit dies in fall from hotel balcony

Actually I think the cop told Boy from the Country Bunker and the Good Ol' Boys that, but I agree.

 

Maybe the parents are too busy petitioning the school board to get the coach fired because little Johnny isn't getting enough PT, or carpet-bombing my publisher with e-mails because I didn't pick him for All-Area, to notice he hasn't been home for a few days?

 

No kidding.

I went to Florida for spring break when I was in high school with a bunch of buddies --that was about 1968--and my eldest went to Mexico when he was 18 about six years ago.

It's no different than kids here heading up to Grand Bend (on Lake Huron) on long weekends during the summer long weekends. They've been doing it since forever.

 

I was in Daytona for spring break many years back (was long past high school age too, BTW). One day we were sitting on the balcony of our hotel which was next to one of those four or five-storey motel jobs with the long outdoor corridor running by the rooms.

Some drunken college kids were firing a frisbee along the corridor on the top floor when one of the throws went astray and a kid jumped out to get it, went over the railing and landed head first on a car in the parking lot. Ugly, ugly scene and I read in the paper the next day the kid died of his injuries. The manager of our hotel told me it happened quite often during spring break at hotels and motels all over the city.

 

The more I think about it, you're right. I knew I had my lines mixed up. If someone supplied the booze then oooooowee, is it gonna get ugly.

 

They might have also told him that he had a Golden Ticket that was going to pay off in 3 years with NFL millions. Don't even cross on yellow lights, until the check has cashed.

 

I think I was the only kid at my high school who didn't go to Cancun. After going to Spring Break during college, I am very glad I didn't go in high school. Otherwise I'd probably have herpes, three illegitmate children, and permananet liver damage.

 

This is correct.

 

I think's it's simplistic to put this bad parenting alone, or even primarily. It was all the factors combined. Lack of supervision. Alcohol. A temper. A balcony. Probably some tough-guy football behavior mixed in. It's all of those things.

And folks...17 years old. The kid's been around enough to know what not to do. He was probably told by his parents what not to do. If he goes ahead and does it, anyway, that's not automatically the fault of the parents.

Part of good parenting isn't trying to locate some larger, societal reason for a child's mistake. Part of good parenting is expecting your kid to fight peer pressure. I mean, yes, our culture is in love with drinking and alcohol. It's an awful love affair. I pray, one day, it goes away. But it doesn't mean a teenager is defenseless.

 

Well said Alma. Would another 3 months and a HS diploma made him more mature? 14 no but at 17 you have to expect that a kid has reached a certain level of maturity. Hell at 18 they can go to war which obviously poses a much greater degree of risk.

 

Excellent points; you just hope the parents have helped provide the defense. In my observations teaching high school and college, a lot of kids who get into bad situations had been very sheltered by their parent(s) and went crazy when they had the chance. Instead of teaching their children how to deal with situations, they try to keep them away from situations. Usually doesn't work out so well.

 

There's a balance to both.

Giving your kid a chance to experience situations and learn self-control isn't the same as sending a 17-year-old to a vacation destination whose entire purpose is to get irresponsibly drunk.