I’m a girl and I just turned 17. Several months back, I was responsible for a car accident that injured my best friend who was riding shotgun. The crash was a result of me texting while driving and also speeding. I walked away from the wreck with a few bruises, but she was injured badly enough that she needed to go to the hospital. After the cops arrived at the scene and completed their investigation, I was arrested and charged with vehicular assault.
Today I was in court to learn my sentence. The judge sentenced me to 30 days in Juvie. Since I have a job and some other responsibilities, he gave me the weekend to “put my affairs in order.” Then on Monday, I have to report to the county juvenile detention center to begin serving my sentence, which I know I totally deserve.
Since the accident, my best friend has managed to forgive me, for which I’m grateful. I wish I could say the same about my parents. They’re both angry and disappointed beyond belief. What happened in court today just made it worse. Don’t get me wrong, I know I screwed up big time and I’m lucky things didn’t end worse than they did. But I hate the way things are between us now. All trust is gone and I don’t know how I’m ever going to get it back. I wish I knew how to begin mending our relationship.
I’m also sitting here silently trying not to freak out about Monday. I’ve never been anywhere like Juvie before, so I have no idea what to expect and I admit I’m really scared about being locked up. I don’t know how I’m going to handle being in jail for a month.
Thank you for listening. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!
CONSIDER THIS
- Being honest with yourself is a great step forward and accepting responsibility for what happened is good step in improving your relationships with your parents.
- Maybe you can talk with your parents about your feelings. No blame on them or you. Just let them know you are really scared and that you are taking responsibility for this and hope that you can mend your trust with them because you love them. Also ask them to come visit you as often as they like to because you would like to see them.
- It is okay to be scared to be going into a juvenile detention center. Maybe you can be productive in some way to help you stay on top of your school work as well as notifying your employers of the situation. This will help you in showing your parents you are accepting the situation and getting your things in order before you do go in.
- Also making amends to yourself for what happened is also a good thing to do as well. Since you are going to be in juvenile detention center maybe you can take the time to take care of yourself and be kind and gentle with yourself. Maybe you can do some yoga, read your favorite books, write about your feelings, etc.
- This is a painful life lesson. However, try to make it a positive thing by creating awareness in other teens of the dangers of texting while driving. By helping others you’ll, in turn, help yourself.
HELP YOURSELF
- What would happen if you talked with your parents about your feelings and wanting to stay in contact with them while you are in detention?
- What are some things that you can do to help settle your affairs before you go into the detention center to show yourself and your parents that you are taking this seriously and are responsible?
- What are some ways you can make amends to yourself and be kind to yourself while you are in detention?
