Okay, daughter comes home and we actually have an open communication relationship. Took awhile to get to that point but finally. Anyhow, I always just talk casually to her about what is happening. W/out making a big deal of things...no matter how much they bother me--LOL. Well, today she told me about her friend who saw another guy doing drugs at school. He's in 8th grade. She even wrote the guy's name down so she wouldn't forget it. I said why'd you write the name down? "so I can tell *****." It is a person in the neighborhood who is a police officer. Now, I don't want her to get anyone in trouble and it come back to bite her. But drugs are truly no good for anyone involved. I've had relatives in trouble w/ stuff in their past and it's just NOT a good thing. Leave it at that. This is an 8th grader! Now, I can NOT verify if it is true b/c I am not the one who saw this incident nor did my daughter. Just my daughter's friend. How do I handle this w/out my daughter appearing as a "narc" so to speak? Should we go to the officer? The principal? The teacher? Obviously, the ohter girl would have to be the one since my daughter is only getting htis second hand. I even asked are you sure they're not making it up? She said no, b/c she asked him and he said yes.(stupid!). Anyhow, see the dilema? I feel obligated to say something as I don't want this kid going down the path of folks I've known. In addition, want my daughter to see that in certain danger situations, you did the right thing. Never been here before, please advise as best you can and will take everything into consideration. Gee, I wish for the tattle tale years back of someone chewing gum--LOL. Thanks in advance. stephanie--mom to 7
Perhaps you could ask the neighbor-policeman what he would suggest you do without mentioning specific names first. He may tell you to notify the office people at the school if there is an officer assigned there they may just do a "random" drug search of lockers or something. You could also just call the school anonymously and tell them straight out that you are concerned for your own child's safety and reputation and let them know what your daughter said, and which class/period this is taking place in, still without mentioning names--yours, your daughter's, or the boy's. At least you will have given them a heads-up, and maybe they could still opt to do a locker check and keep close tabs on this class of kids.
Ask yourself how often is word of mouth accurate? If in fact this is true this kid will get caught sooner than later if he is that stupid. For the time being let it play out.
Have you contacted the other girl's parents? In the end, since it was her that saw it they are going to have to deal with the school or police directly, but if they chose not to do anything and you still felt like you needed to say something then I think you could report the conversation with your daughter to the school and see if they would think an investigation would be warranted or not. It's a tough situation, but it sounds like you and your daughter have a good relationship and she's got a good head on her shoulders so that is all in your favor.
