IS IT REALLY TIME FOR THAT TALK ALREADY?

When does the age of innocence end?

After being in the journalism profession for more than 15 years, I have had
the opportunity to find out plenty of things that would devastate, depress,
disgust or delight most folks. I have been in situations that called for
sensitivity and others that have called for sternness. Yet nothing would
have prepared me for what happened Sunday.

Parenting is certainly not an easy vocation. Some are called to it, some
fall into it and others flee from it. I know that parenting is different
from when my mother and father began. Well, parenting may not be different,
but the times certainly are.

That is what led me to Sunday. I was working at my computer at home when I
overheard my son mention drugs to his little sister. Naturally,
investigation was necessary. What was discovered was that he had taken a
cylinder of candy to his room and, while playing with his sister, decided
that he would pretend the candy was a drug that would increase his physical
abilities. He is 7.

Of course, I had to ask what was going on. He told me. He did not make up
anything else, he was honest in what he was playing. So at 7, I had to ask
my son what he really knew about drugs. Immediately, my mind called up an
old commercial where the mother and father could be seen talking to someone
in a high back chair. They told this mysterious guest about the dangers of
drugs and a little about some of the legal consequences.

They were talking to a stuffed bear. Hardly a substitute, but at least they
had some practice. I had to do it cold.

I cannot imagine any parents looking forward to sitting down with their
child to tell them about drugs. I know there are several programs out
there, such as D.A.R.E. programs in schools. No matter how much you have
been exposed to this information, however, how can any parent really be
ready to tell a 7-year-old something that most folks in my generation did
not find out about until the teen-age years? Knowledge is power. We promote
that every day on these pages. The more people know about the world around
them, the better choices they can make in almost anything in life. And
while I would have thought this day would have come later, everything I
might have rehearsed in my mind all these years when the time for this talk
would eventually come spun around in my head.

For a moment, all I could do was look at this innocent little face and
wonder why this has to happen now? Why is it necessary for my elementary
school-aged child to have to lose a little of his innocence already?

I did find the words, and I think he really understands the danger drugs
bring. But as I sat there deflated and emotionally spent, I could only pray
that the words I used will stay with him in future years when times get
really tough. When a "friend" asks him to "just try" something. Or when
another tells him he is being a wimp because he says he does not want to
"just try" something. Or when this "friend" ostracizes him because he is
not "cool" like his other "friends."

I hope and pray that in a few more years, when he thinks he knows
everything and gets mad at me because he disagrees with my "guidance," he
will remember our little talk - as well as others that will follow - that
ended with, "Son, you know you can come to me about anything," and, "Son, I
love you."

Contemplating this prayer, I think I understand a little better now why my
mother always had bad knees.

Jeffrey Zeringue is executive editor of the Daily Comet. Opinions expressed
are those of the writer and not necessarily of this newspaper.