'Helpful' Article on iVillage

Dangerous Teen Fads You Should Know About

Please, please never let me be the parent who resorts to reading about what my child might (*might*) be doing. 

I can't quite place what about this article disgusts me so much...  The assumption that all teens do this?  The assumption that all teens are doing this now (as opposed to two, three, or five years ago, since the authors' kids had obviously been doing this for long enough for their parents to notice)?  The assumption that all of the "fads" listed are dangerous?  I'm having visions of parents reading this article and attempting to talk to their teenagers about the dangers of planking, only to be met with eye rolls and "Mom, no one does that anymore..."

More likely, it's the idea that a parent (and I will soon be one) could be so out of touch with their child that the few dangerous activities on the list would go unnoticed in the absence of a helpful article on the internet. 




Had I someone with whom to toast at this very moment, I'd raise my Vitamin Water high to working my ass off to stay engaged with the world as this child grows up.