Do you have kids? Do you think we should be one hundred percent honest with them? Do you think our answers will vary depending on our individual past experiences?

Kids are ridiculously observant. At least mine are anyway. They know when I’m having a hard time even if I try to hide it. They know when I change or add something to my routine. They’ve always asked a lot of questions but as they get older the questions are getting more serious and sometimes, I have to take a minute to figure out the right words for my answers. I don’t want to lie to my kids but I don’t want to scar them for life either.

Both my kids have noticed that I haven’t been drinking alcohol. I haven’t had a drink in 7months. They’ve also noticed that I go out to the garage in the evenings. Sativa an I have become pretty good friends since I quit drinking. I was never much of a “pot head” when I was younger but I will say that in my 40’s now it’s a whole new experience. My kids didn’t really notice anything at first except that mom was smiling and laughing a lot more than she had been for a while. The first time my son came in from getting a soda from the garage after I had been out there was interesting and uncomfortable. “What’s that smell in the garage?” We chuckled and said, “don’t worry about it.” I started to feel like he was observing me when I would come in from the garage an it just didn’t feel right so we decided it was time to have a chat with him. We explained what marijuana is, why I do it, why it’s for adults, and that it’s legal now. It is where we are at least. He was fine with it and seemed to understand.

Here we are a couple weeks later heading out the door to school and my daughter says, “why do you keep going out to the garage at night?” Really!? She is 2 years younger than my son and I took more than a minute to pick my words.  I pretty much gave her the same explanation we gave my son. Just like him she took it well and seem to understand.

I was the one left questioning myself. Did I do the right thing? Am I telling them too much? I never dabbled with any drugs but marijuana when I was younger so I don’t have a big issue with them knowing. As they get older and have more questions, I hope I can be honest. I guess I’m one of those parents who would rather be open and honest with the hope that they take something away from our conversations and not make the mistakes I did.  Same goes for drinking alcohol and sex. I have moments in my life that I’m not proud of but if our kids don’t hear the bad then they’ll think it’s all rainbows and heart balloons. Don’t get me wrong, I know my kids are going to make mistakes and learn some things the hard way.  All I can hope for is that they listen to my experiences and make good choices.