We moved out of the Charleston, SC area a little over a year ago due to the rising crime in our neighborhood. We found a nice home in a nice neighborhood near my older daughter and her family. Since my older daughter is a nurse and lives in Lexington, SC, I thought it would be a good place to relocate. She loves it here and the schools appeared to be good and a heck of a lot better than Charleston.

It has been a year now and my youngest daughter who is 11 years old did well in her new school. She was diagnosed with ADHD and has been on Strattera since the second grade. This year she entered middle school. I wasn't prepared for what was about to take place.

Jessica began wearing black clothes shortly after the beginning of school in the sixth grade. No big deal, a lot of kids do. Well, she began wearing all black and wearing clothes with skull and cross bone symbols. She also began getting interested in death and anything to do with tribal rituals like you see on National Geographic Channel and Explorer. Her facination also moved towards the Goth scene.

I began monitoring her activities online more closely, not that I did not already. I found a site called Gaiaonline.com which apparently was originally designed for teens, but as with all other sites of the sort, it has turned into a haven for all types of weirdos searching to prey on children.

I found the profile of a young man on her page which lead to his page and profile where I found a picture of someone's wrist which was cut with a razor and bleeding. I called her in and questioned her and found that she was wearing a sleeve on her left arm which was left over from a Halloween costume. I made her pull it off and found self inflicted heavy scratches all over her arm.

Jessica's mother and I sat down and talked to her about this. She promised she would not do it again. We restricted her access to the site , but did not want to shut her off completely as most of her schoolmates had profiles as well and for the most part it was OK. We would not allow her online unless we were there to monitor, though.

The next Saturday I again checked her arm when I discovered her wearing the sleeve again. This time her arm was marked with a black marker in multiple places. I discussed this with her again and we discussed punishment if it continued or possibly talking to a counselor. I checked her arm every day after that.

The following Friday her mother called me at work to say she found bloody tissues in Jessi's bathroom and called the school to see if she was alright. Jessi said she was fine and had a nose bleed before leaving for the bus. Jessica has nose bleeds quite frequently during the winter when the air is dry. The doctor said it's because she uses a fan constantly and it dries out her sinus tissue.

Jessi's mom works weekends and I stay home with her. That morning I was double checking the parental controls on the computer and discovered a remark she had placed on someone's comment section of their profile. She said her arm was messed up.

When Jessica woke up I called her  and sure enough, she was wearing the sleeve again. When she pulled it up there were about 30 to 40 cuts from a pair of scissors on her arm. I was shocked! That was where the bloody tissues came from.

Jessica and I went to see a child  psychologist today. After talking to the psychologist she told me Jessica needed to see a psychiatrist because Jessica did not appear to exibit any of the symptoms which are normally associated with this sort of problem. She said Jessi was in total denial there was any problem at all.

We are currently awaiting a call from the mental health association in our county to see if there are any other cases of this sort of thing with a child so young and to have her refered for more help.

Jessica calls herself an EMO. I urge all parents to get familiar with this term. You might want to see what sites your children frequent as well and just have a look around this Gaiaonline site. Just Google this profile http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/?u=10317591 and it will get you in. You won't have access to everything unless you make a profile yourself, but you will get an idea of what I mean.  

Well it seems the family Spears will have more gossip to contend with in the new year, and it seems a new baby. I just read this morning that 16 year old Jaime Lynn is expecting.

Now I know that there are a lot of teenage mothers in the world. It's not a choice I would want for my family, but now we have a teenage mother who has a hit television show geared toward tweens and teens. My daughter is one of those teens who watches Zoey 101. Nickelodeon is standing by her choice, now the choice is mine.Do I continue to let my children watch this young lady as her pregnant belly expands before their eyes on tv.?

Where are the parents in all of this. My kids and I will be sitting down again tonight having another talk about making wise choices, because some choices you make stay with you FOREVER.

One week ago today - last friday afternoon -  my dog attacked my daughter's friend. 

On Monday evening, Austin came back to my house for the first time since the accident.   He and Gianna(DD) shared my computer chair and chatted with their friends on AIM.  He made a point of petting and snuggling up to my other dog. I think it was something he needed to do.

 Tuesday night,  Austin went to the rec center with us to play basketball with his friends.  The stitches in his mouth had already dissolved and all food restrictions had been removed.

On Wednesday night, he was back here on his bike to goof around, eat chicken wings and play board games  with my daughter and several other friends. He really wants to go back to school. 

Thursday - the stitches were removed from his face. All that remains is a bandaid on the bridge of his nose and some redness which will fade.

Friday - Austin returned to school to find that Gianna and several others had gone in early to decorate his locker with signs and balloons welcoming him back.  There's a Christmas dance after school today that he didn't want to miss. I hear he's the most popular boy in school today. ;-)

I've decided that when I grow up.......I want to be a kid.

Friday afternoon, my daughter's friend, Austin, went over his friends house to visit.  As he walked in the girl's door, he was attacked by their family dog.  All of the damage was on his face.  He received 100 stitches, 50 inside his mouth, the rest on his face.  It was terrible.  Everyone was shocked and stunned at the news.

The next morning, the dog was removed from the home. It will be put down as soon as the 10 days of quarantine required by law are up.  The dog was 1yr old - a rescue mutt they believed to be a black lab/boxer mix.  He'd never shown any sign of agression or violence. It lived in a house where children would come and go all the time.  There was a second dog in the house and there'd never been any sort of problems.  Never did the family believe it had this tendency within him.   Austin's friend is dealing with the shame and embarrassment of knowing her dog seriously hurt her frriend as well as the grief of having to lose her beloved pet.  Her parents are mortified and stricken with guilt and grief that their dog did this terrible thing to an innocent boy. 

But sometimes even in the blackest of clouds a silver lining shines through. The silver lining in this terrible story is that I was able to see just what sort of children my daughter hangs around with.  And what I saw made me happy and incredibly proud.  Not only did the children rally around Austin with phone calls, visits, gifts and cards...they rallied around the girl who owned the dog, letting her know they still loved her and didn't blame her for what happened.  Even Austin's parents welcomed her into their home and let her know that they held no ill will toward her (or her parents) for what happened.   The girl stayed focused on the fact that Austin was the true victim and never spoke of the sadness of losing her dog to her friends.  Austin, on the other hand, actually apologized to the girl  for being the reason behind the dog being gone.   What wonderful, mature, caring, unselfish children my daughter has chosen to surround herself with. I feel so blessed and lucky that these are the people she calls her best friends. 

 Austin will be ok.  From what I understand, he's already wrestling around and enjoying the company and attention he's getting from his many friends.  The girl will  also be ok.  She'll grieve her loss in private with her parents.  Both children will envelope themselves in the love and acceptance of these very special kids they've befriended and they will survive and move on.

Why am I telling you this story? Because the girl Austin went to visit that day was my daughter. And the dog was mine. 

Just thought I'd write an update on my daughter's friend who is battling leukemia.  She is doing very well and responding to her treatments. 

I have signed onto this great website called Caring Bridge.  It is such a fabulous place to go to find out how your friend/family member is doing.  Basically the family of the sick person can write journal updates which people who care about them can read.  It's such a great thing for the family because they don't have to continue telling their story again and again to concerned and loving friends.  And the other cool part is  that friends and loved ones can send messages of hope to the family through the website.  What a great website.  I hope you never have to use it but it makes issues surrounding battling a serious illness easier to deal with than they used to be.