Turns out, not as much as I thought. Or hoped.
Last night Eric was outside doing something with the truck, when he saw Brandon 'round the corner of the house and light up a cigarette. Eric was so shocked he asked Brandon what the hell he was doing!! To which Brandon replied, "Nothing." HA! "Nothing" but break my heart!!
So, when Eric brought him into the house to tell me I tried to remain calm. (Having been smokers ourselves didn't make the situation any easier because we know that it's a lifelong battle to quit.) I asked my second-born why he was smoking and he said he just wanted to try it. Oh. OK. But, when I was trying smoking at 14 years old, I wasn't doing it by myself at the side of the house! So, in essence, I don't believe a damn word of it.
So- I immediately went to Emma. You see, if Emma knows anything she can't help but spill her guts....but, she was truly shocked. She actually said, "Ewwww!!! That's so sketchy! He's going to turn into a sketchy kid. I knew it would happen!!" And then she basked in the glow of NOT being the Bad Kid for a moment. (She missed her curfew by 2 hrs on Saturday night)
What did I think that I knew? I thought that Brandon would be the last kid to start smoking because he's been the most vocal about how disgusting it is. I thought that I had given him enough information about it that he wouldn't need to try it. I guess I thought that my kid, my kid would be better than to reduce himself to smoking-especially last night when he is suffering from a really bad chest cold.
But I guess what I now know is that my kid is only human. And no matter how much I hoped for him to be perfect, he's going to be who he'll be. It's his path to take.........but I'm not going to stop calling him "Smokey" for a looooong time.
2 comments:
Ugh! Have you shown him pictures of shriveled blackened lungs or rotting teeth? (Tell him the girls are put off by smokers' grillz!) I started when I was 13, I bought my first pack at Canada's Wonderland in the gift shop! It is a life-long struggle, when stress hits it's the first thing I think of. My Bran calls my brother 'Uncle Smoker' so hopefully he'll not go down that path, then again, it could be a clever way to throw me off!
Why aren't our kids smarter than us???
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