Everyone has been telling me since my kids were born that one day they would rebel. Looking at some “then/now” pictures of Amy Winehouse on a blog tonight really made that fear a reality. Click on the image above to see the “after” pictures.
Here is a hugely talented girl with the world as her oyster who in just a few short years has destroyed her voice, body, and mind with drugs. Can she recover? I sure hope so. I enjoyed her music in the early days of her career. She may or may not pull out of the mess she’s fallen into, but I am more concerned with the lesson for dads out there:
Don’t let your kids do drugs.
Another thing people have told me forever is that kids will not listen to me and they will do what they want no matter what they say. Like I told my wife tonight: “By the time my girls are in college, I’ll be close to retiring so I can follow them everywhere.”
Poor Amy has made rehab her “hit,” I hope she gets beyond rehab to reality before too long. I read that Kelly Osbourne recently for rearranging her “evil” furniture. She moved chairs, sofas, and kitchen rugs in a psuedo Feng Shui style. My thought is, “why did Kelly ley her stay in her house?” But I guess stuff like that happens with the overly wealthy. I just can’t help but wonder where her father is in all this. That’s not a judgment, just a wonder.
2 Comments
I actually think Amy Winehouse’s father is very involved in her life. I know I’ve read some things about him, including that he hit Pete Doherty with a guitar for hanging out with his daughter. I guess he feels he’s not a good influence ;) I don’t believe that your kids or my kids or anybody’s kids will “do whatever they want regardless of what you say” at all. I think if your values and ideas are consistently talked about throughout childhood, even at the epitome of teenage “dumbness”, they are in there somewhere. I have 4 teenagers, one with Bipolar Disorder, and we’ve never had an issue with drugs, alcohol, sexual inappropriateness, staying out past curfew, etc. It’s about respect. Even though they are kids, I respect them as people and I respect that some of their ideas may be different than mine. We’ve always been able to work out a happy medium when we can and I think that has a big part to do with it. They don’t feel the need to rebel against everything because I let them have blue or pink hair if that’s what they really want, know what I mean?
I do believe though that a lot of the kids who do get involved with drugs and alcohol are self-medicating themselves. Depression, anxiety and other mental disorders are much more prominent than I think anyone initially thought or wanted to acknowledge. We may see Amy Winehouse as a huge talent with the world at her fingertips, which is true, but obviously she doesn’t.
@Jessica The Rock Chick: I hope I will foster trust in my kids like you commented about. Amy’s photos are haunting. Thanks for your wisdom on this.