One Mad Hombre

I’ve been dreading this for years. My boy is in sixth grade and is preparing for a three day school excursion. Sixth graders go to a place called “Clear Creek”. It is up in the mountains at a school district camp. The activity lasts three days and two nights. The camp is staffed with teenagers.

What am I so mad about? Well, I don’t believe in sleepovers. My wife and I don’t let our children go to friends houses to stay overnight. There is plenty of evidence that sleepovers lead to bad things. Issues range from inappropriate discussions to sexual molestation. Molestation can come from parents or older kids in the house. Frequently families allow their kids of different ages to have sleepovers on the same night. So you can have a 12 year old boy having his friend over the same night as the six year old girl with her friend. Even if I trust the family I may not trust their kid’s friend. You’re basically sending your kid over to someone’s house where you don’t know how the situation is going to change. Studies show that sleepovers at cousin’s homes are the worst.

I had sleepovers as a kid; probably hundreds of them. I personally didn’t see anything horrendous but I saw enough to make me wary. My wife had similar experiences. It is just not something we do in our family. My boys will go to Boy Scout campouts and other overnight activities but they will be older and there will be better security measures in place and if not, I will attend.

The school pushes this Clear Creek thing very hard. Yes there are some security measures in place but guess what, if I don’t send my children to our friends homes around the neighborhood, I sure don’t trust the government to have them overnight. Remember and never forget, PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT. They are no different than the IRS or the DMV.

You may be thinking, “Just don’t send your kid”. Well it sure doesn’t seem that simple to me. There is enormous pressure to attend. Pressure from other adults, teachers, classmates and of course my own kids. I’m just ticked that the school district puts me in this position. They could be driven up each day without doing this overnight bologna.

I am mad that I have been put in this situation.