Conservative Parenthood

Now, more than ever, I find myself thinking about the intricacies of being a parent. Having been brought up by two not so patient people, I know I'm in danger of being temperamental myself to my child, expecting the best all the time and conveniently forgetting the drama I went through when I had to undergo the weight of my own parents' expectations. I hope I won't though, and I hope that I will actually listen to my more even keeled spouse when my own patience is tested, but I know the risk always loom not too far from me precisely because of my own upbringing.

One of the things I've never really thought about, however, is the concept of being "conservative".

Just today, I received an email that emphasized (underscored and highlighted), my apparent liberal nature. Here's the situation;

A teenage boy asked permission from his parents to go to a party in a hotel in Ortigas. Parents agree, and pick him up two hours after the party began. They find that the party was in a room (not a function room), with beds (god forbid), a lot of kids (mostly boys), some booze and smoke, and their son, playing truth or dare with 9 other kids in a bedroom. The mother (the apparent sender of the email), was freaking out about the entire situation, thinking it was so horrible that something like this could happen. The email then goes on to scare (yes, scare) the recipient parents with this final message:

THERE WILL BE ANOTHER PARTY IN [identity protected], AND YOUR CHILD COULD BE IN ONE OF THEM. WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!

My first reaction was, OMG, these parents are overreacting. I mean, I don't want my own child to be drinking and smoking, but I also know that you can't actually stop them or their friends (and in fact, the more you do, the more they seem to like doing it, at least that's how my own drinking and smoking friends explained it to me). But what really got to me was that the mother was so upset with her son because he was playing truth or dare (note: he wasn't even drinking or smoking, nor was he caught in a compromising situation).

My second reaction, on the other hand, was something along the lines of 'did I miss something?' Perhaps that's what responsible parents do. They freak out when their teenage son is in a hotel room with twenty other kids with loud music, and booze, and girls, even though he obviously is not drinking or smoking. Perhaps, that's the right way to bring up a child. Perhaps I'm just too liberal.

My third reaction is what's currently taking a hold of me now: a sort of surreal amusement. Especially, when I read the last line of that email.

Which isn't what a responsible parent should do, right? Times like these, I'm just glad moral issues like the ones above are still a long way off.