OBLIGATIONS ROLE PLAY

Parents
You are worried and angry about your 14 year old kid. He/She keeps coming home late and
you think he is doing drugs. He is often moody and aggressive. He is almost never in the
house and when he is he just sleeps. You don’t know what to do. You think maybe that he is
hanging out with a bad group of friends. His teachers have told you that he often falls asleep
in class and that his grades have decreased dramatically during the last year.

You have decided to go to a family counsellor to get some advice. Talk to the family
councillor, listen to his/hers advice and then sit down and have a meeting with your son.

Counsellor
You need to think of some advice to give to the parents. You think that one of the problems is
that the dad drinks too much and that he doesn’t pay attention to his son enough. You also
think that the mum spends too much time watching Secret Story and shopping in the Part
Dieu. They need to spend more time with their son.

However, you are also sure that the son has problems with drugs. Use your own ideas to think
of some advice to give the parents which might help them to stop their son from taking drugs
and to make his life better.

Son
It is true. You have started listening to dub-step and taking drugs but only on Fridays! You
are bored of school and you haven’t got a girlfriend- life is rubbish! You are fed up with your
parents because they are always so busy that they barely acknowledge you. Your dad keeps
promising to take you to an OL game but he never does- he just goes out and gets drunk. If he
can go out and get drunk, what’s wrong with you going out and doing drugs? You’re mum
has been acting strange for the last 6 months and you think she might be having an affair.

Your parents have left you a message on your answer phone saying that they would like to sit
down and talk to you. Sit down and talk with them and listen to what they have to say, then
explain how you feel.