Wow...that was a trip down memory lane. When i was a teen, i did everything my parents said not to do. I snuck out, i dated older bys, troublesome boys, and older men, much older. I drank, I did drugs, I had sex. I did it all, looking back, for attention. I didn't realize all i would ever get was negative attentions. My mother got the alarm system, but to her dismay it wasn't able to do the doors or windows in my room. They took away every privelage there was, but i still found ways to do what I wanted. My parents worked a lot, they werent always there as much as i wanted, but looking back they did all they could for us. I talk to my mom now, and really the only thing i wished for was less yelling and more positive affirmations. As a result of my actions, I became a teen parent, i had 3 miscarriges as a teen as well, I was violently raped and held against my will , I contracted STDs, I had a drug problem, I became depressed and suicidal, spent time in mental homes. I was homeless with my baby and in an abusive relationship with an older man. Because i didnt want to listen to people who in my sad closed little hell I thought did not truly love me. That man, My first childs father, turned out to be a child molestor, i found out years later and of course stoped his contact with his daughter, but in the end it was too late for me and for my daughter. We were both his victim, i may have done so at my own will, but i still subjected an innocent child to that. I have to live with this and everything else now, for my life. I stole from people to survive, I was a mean cold vengeful person. Because of something I did not understand, and as such, I reacted poorly.
I had an offer from an old teacher to come back to my highschool (i didn't graduate) and to talk to the kids, candidly. I did. I told them everything, people cired, people got mad, got disgusted, some even left the room, but most of them started thinking, even if for only those few minutes, they started thinking....And one in particular came to me months later and thanked me. He had been on a simmilar path and was able to go home and talk to his parents and repair a lot of things.
I am still very young myself, and i remember what it was like vividly. I still struggle daily to survive, but at least now its honest struggle, I have been married, am divorcing, moved me and my kids more times than i can think of, in the end I had to give up 2 of my kids temporairily in order to get on my feet, this is the hardest time of my life, and i worry for this girl, for any child going through what i did.
All i can suggest is that your friend find someone who is close to the girls age, someone she'll be able to identify with, to talk to her. Maybe, hopefully, it will get her thinking.
