Interesting confession from F this afternoon. Not spontaneous, but a dread of discovery urged him to confess. Apparently a couple of weeks ago when he went around to hang out with his friends on the beach etc. they group of them had clubbed together to buy some dope. A child (T) bought it from another child (J) who apparently bought it from a dealer - his parents apparently still smoke and so on.... they went down and smoked on the Eastcliff Beach apparently - he said it made him feel happy and that he would like to do it again. Arrrrgh.... I would like him to wait a bit longer, he's not quite 14 - in fact, he's 13. But I expected he would be younger than N when he tried it - because Chatham is the sort of school where there's plenty of it knocking about....
I feel as if I ought to punish him in some way - but what can I do really? I point out that his brain is still forming, and that he should not use it for that reason. I forgot to say that it was illegal - but he might remember that after his encounter with the sniffer dog at Victoria Station.
On one level, F is a terrible tearaway - who does what he wants and gets into endless scrapes - and then can't understand why he's getting so many detentions. On the other hand, he's a very sincere, decent child - if somewhat selfish, so it's hard to punish him when he owns up., even though he artfully blames "peer pressure" and N's example. "I wouldn't have, if he hadn't."
Which brings me to the last issue, during this day of revelry T's parents discovered that their home safe (containing £200) was down to £9. T's mamma thinks "they" stole it, "they" think T's brother has been taking it little by little for a while. What kind of people have a home safe for heaven's sake? Anyway, if no one owns up, T's mother will be on the phone to tell us all about the dope... which will be a little bit awkward.
I feel as if I ought to punish him in some way - but what can I do really? I point out that his brain is still forming, and that he should not use it for that reason. I forgot to say that it was illegal - but he might remember that after his encounter with the sniffer dog at Victoria Station.
On one level, F is a terrible tearaway - who does what he wants and gets into endless scrapes - and then can't understand why he's getting so many detentions. On the other hand, he's a very sincere, decent child - if somewhat selfish, so it's hard to punish him when he owns up., even though he artfully blames "peer pressure" and N's example. "I wouldn't have, if he hadn't."
Which brings me to the last issue, during this day of revelry T's parents discovered that their home safe (containing £200) was down to £9. T's mamma thinks "they" stole it, "they" think T's brother has been taking it little by little for a while. What kind of people have a home safe for heaven's sake? Anyway, if no one owns up, T's mother will be on the phone to tell us all about the dope... which will be a little bit awkward.
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