Dumb Stuff Kids Do

My daughter, L, has a guy friend, Z, who is a complete Dumbass. This kid is 15 years old and has been busted for drinking and smoking, he runs away from home, has lived with his Grandmother for a few weeks at a time several times, and is quite frankly - annoying. However, knowing that the more I say "you are not allowed to hang around Z" the more L will be inclined TO hang around him. So instead, I've been keeping tabs on him. Just kinda keeping up to speed as much as I can as to what they're doing, where they're going, who they're with, etc.



L comes home the other week after hanging out with a bunch of kids and says to me "I need to tell you something and I think you're going to be mad" which in kid-speak is a definite clue that she's done something really stupid. She proceeds to tell me that sometime during that afternoon/evening Z decided it would be funny to pull a knife on some unsuspecting guy in Blockbuster. After the kids left Blockbuster and headed elsewhere, L and her girlfriends lost Z and the other guys they were with. Upon coming out of another store the girls saw the guys - getting handcuffed and being put in the back of a police cruiser. The guy from Blockbuster called the cops on Z. I don't blame him however the only reason that L told me about this incident is because Z is being charged with whatever charge pulling a knife on someone would be. Z's Mom told L and her friends that the only way they'd have anything to do with these charges is if Z's lawyer needs witnesses.


My response to L's confession was that I'm not sure I want her to hang out with Z anymore and he's definitely not allowed to be at our house either. When I saw Z at one of L's soccer games he apologized to me and "promised" to think about his actions from now on, but I'm pretty confident that he was being an ass-kisser. I haven't changed my mind. His actions that day could have gotten someone really hurt. When it comes to my kids, my job as a parent is to keep them from being hurt. Z's reason for pulling the knife on this guy was because this guy was "fat" therefore what was he gonna do? When I told my fiancé, M, this he said "I'm fat. Let him pull a knife on me and see how quickly I kill him." I just can't believe that Z would think that it's acceptable to do that. More so that he thought it was funny!


I get that people, especially kids, make mistakes, but aren't you supposed to learn from your mistakes? Z may not have pulled a knife on someone previously but he's done enough stupid shit that he should be thinking about what he's doing. I think he was trying to impress the kids they were all with.


Either way - Z's been banned from our house for an indefinite amount of time. I'm not sure if I'm going to lift that ban either. I'm pretty close to telling L that she's not allowed to hang out with Z at all. For the moment she hangs out with him in a group setting or at his house, but that obviously doesn't stop him from being an idiot.