Sarah Buttenweiser has written a lovely post about how reading David Sheff’s memoir, “Beautiful Boy” got her thinking in different ways about tolerance for teenage drug experimentation. I also read Sheff’s amazing book; I read it while my own addicted son was away for nearly 9 months of inpatient treatment last year. After I finished it, I mailed it to H at his program in Montana. I don’t think he ever read it.
I found Sheff’s book deeply affecting on a purely emotional level; it also made me revisit the ways in which I responded to H’s earliest experimentation. When I have time (HA!), I plan to write a longer post about how my views on teenage “experimentation” have evolved as a result of our family’s experiences. In the meantime, however, I urge all of you who are parents (no matter how young your kids are now) to go buy David Sheff’s book. It’s an engrossing read and it will definitely get you thinking deeply about how you might handle it if you ever find that your own teenager is smoking a little pot.
9 Responses to “Beautiful boys: mine, yours and David Sheff’s”
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Beautiful Boy challenged my views, and actually changed my thinking on legalization. Not every kid who experiments ends up an addict, but every addict starts with marijauna.
His son Nic’s book Tweak is also excellent. It is a good counterpoint to his father’s side of the story, harrowing and hard to read at times, but a good look inside the addicted brain.
Thanks for the warning on early experimentation. I never did it myself, but I guess I thought of marijuana use as not being that big of a deal. Thanks for showing me otherwise.
I’ve read his son’s book, Tweak, but haven’t been able to get Beautiful Boy from the local library yet. Tweak was a difficult, absorbing read. I expect the same from his father’s point of view. Last I’d heard, Nic Scheff was still clean and doing well. Anyone aware of anything different?
I read this book a couple of years ago. It’s powerful. I have recommended it to all my friends who are parents of preteens/teens as a must read. The minute I heard about Henry, I couldn’t help but think of this book and the parallels. My love and prayers are with you and your family. Godspeed.
I’m sure you have already heard about this site: http://www.brainline.org/
I hope H has some recovery and your family has some peace.
Not every addict starts with marijuana. Alcohol and purloined pills from the family medicine chest can be culprits, too.
LouAnn, you make a good point.
I read that Nic did relapse twice since the book was published, but is currently sober. I’m glad he is so candid about his struggle, I hope he some day writes about this too.
He did.
http://www.davidsheff.com/tweak_by_nic_sheff.html
Babs, what?! At this point, my guess is that Nic Sheff has disappeared from online updates, and no longer blogs or sends e-mails. What I’ve heard is that he relapsed in January, and has missed even the rare scheduled appearance.
His Dad’s next book, The 13th Step, is due to be published later this year, and I would wager he’ll be commenting on the difficult steps after rehab.