Hello Temptation!

Gabriel has been playing piano pretty seriously over the past two years. He accompanies himself on the piano and sings very well. We encourage his musical abilities and recently he has been given the position of lead soloist in the school orchestra. Gabriel has also done well in all of his math and science classes, and now really finds 11th grade physics to be quite interesting. We are hoping that Gabriel will pursue a career in music or science as those two seem to be his favorite subjects. Whatever Gabriel decides will be fine with us.

Socially, Gabriel is extremely active and the social aspect of his life is very important to him. At 14 years old, Gabriel started coming home very upset because of the occasional fight with a friend. Once he started high school, he soon had a very busy social calendar, including hanging out with some new friends, and getting involved in a couple of social activist clubs. He would often have friends over after school. When there are problems with his friends he becomes angry or rebellious. When Gabriel turned 16, he had a break-up with his girlfriend of three months and was distraught for two weeks. His emotions are easily influenced by his social interactions.

Gabriel is adjusting to teenage life with a few bumps along the way. Recently, Gabriel came home from a party smelling of marijuana. When asked about it he replied that he would never do something that would affect his performance in baseball, and I believed him. I praised him for that attitude. He has told small lies about where he was to save himself from embarrassment and again, we remind him of our rules without punishment. Gabriel has been dating someone for 2 months now and I am a little worried about how intimate this relationship will become. Gabriel says that he's in love. My husband had a talk with Gabriel and tried to convince him that he should wait until they are more mature, and surer of the relationship to engage in sex. However, just in case, he talked to Gabriel about safe sex, condoms, and birth control. One night, Gabriel called home around 4am and asked to be picked up from a party. While I praised him for calling me and not attempting to drive home drunk, I did ground him for one week and scolded him for underage drinking, which he knew was wrong. Gabriel is also trying to exert his independence by spending time with his girlfriend without telling us where they were going. While we are lenient with Gabriel about making mistakes and learning from them, we are strict and clear in our expectations of Gabriel.