The "I can't believe we have to talk about this already" talk

No- not that talk yet, thank goodness, but one just as bad if you ask me. Every week we get a letter home from the school summarizing things that have happened, letting us know about upcoming events, etc. This week the letter was anxiety provoking to say the least. The header this week was "The New Drug: Strawberry Quick". Apparently this is a newer form of crystal meth that is served up like pop rocks and comes in a variety of flavors, most commonly strawberry. It has been allegedly given to children who ingest it like candy and then are, of course, becoming extremely sick and being rushed to the hospital from the playground. The recommendation from the school was to tell children not to take candy from anyone, not even other children (in case they unsuspectingly received this from someone else). The lovely letter was followed up with a reminder to attend Hmong Family Night and also, please return all overdue library books. Just like that, like it was no big deal to scare the pants off the parents who bother to read this weekly literature. Anyways, this rather disturbing letter came home on Thursday at which time I talked with both Alex and Anna about not taking candy from others, etc. We talked about what drugs are, why they bad, etc. Anna had a million questions and by the end of the conversation I felt like, ok they understand, they get it. I had probably way overdramatized it (with some images of very sick kids coming to the hospital) and they were going to never eat candy again but if it kept them from becoming 5 and 7 year old meth addicts, it was worth it. Then....Friday came. The Friday before spring break....and Alex came home sucking on a sucker and Anna came home chewing gum. Where did they get these treats you ask? Well, Alex found his on the bus- lucky! and Anna got hers from her friend. Her friend told her it was chocolate but it was really gum- weird! And I think my conversation meant nothing because when I reminded them about what we had talked about, Alex said, "But mom, how many times do you find a perfectly good sucker that you get to keep?" and Anna said, "Mom, my best friend gave it to me and it was wrapped up just like an Easter egg, and it's almost Easter you know". So, I think I've lost this one. It makes me quite sad that along with all of the regular worries of being a parent, we need to worry about them eating drugs disguised as candy. Sad, scary world!