Single mom living in a fascist state. My kids are 9 and 13. I used to smoke but quit before I had kids. Don't have a supplier and concerned about trying to find it safely. Is it absurd to try to set up a small grow box in my garage?
My kid is almost 11, blatantly hiding/denying isn't something I've found to work personally. Kids are bright. If budget allows, step the size of the grow up a little and let it be made up of mostly legal plants. Call it your guys' own little paradise and let them help out in the beginning. They will most likely lose interest before the weed plant/s are noticeable all they will know is periodically Mommy gets awesome fruit or pretty flowers from the cabinet/tent. All IMO of course. If this helps ( I doubt), my son knows I do things that most people consider bad. I skipped all the advice I gave you, he knows what's in there and knows that it's our secret. He's also had years of experience with secret keeping like he's not allowed to talk about my pistol that I carry except to me and his mom. The gun and I am legal but having a curious kid ask "Hey dad did you bring your gun?" In the middle of a store isn't exactly ideal(unless you live in a small town I guess) I've adopted a lot of my gun education practices for weed as well. I'll answer any question he has and even let him handle firearms just as long as any time he has a question or desire to handle it he comes directly to me. Things are only as intriguing to a child if you make them some sort of mythical object that they know nothing about.
I wouldn't even bother. When I grew up my dad was a big time grower and his bust still is one of the largest in oregons history 10 years ago. I would come over and there was plants in multiple rooms and I just figured they were regular plants. I was about 9 years old (4th grade?) and didn't know it was "wrong" for a good 2-3 more years. I knew not to talk about it, and he just explained to me it was for his medicine. He had a broken back due to a car accadent, but didn't want anyone to take his stuff from him to keep it quite or something. Was never much of a big deal to me, and I'm glad he trusted me enough to not feel he had to hide it.
Both my parents grew when i was younger. I knew what it was, but didn't know how to work it. When i was around 14 my dad showed me a plant and explainted its delicate operation, which i had already figured out to keep discreet anyway. My dad had a close friend whome son found out and went around yapping his mouth. The guys house ended up being busted by 3 guys (1 in a car as getaway) while he was home and he got a crowbar to the head and went to hospital. To give you an idea, this is mainly a retirement area, so there aren't many psychos that would do this, so if you live in a city with lots of different crowds you don't want it getting out. If you tell your kids, which is best, just make sure they know how serious it is that its' between you guys, and that telling their friends for 10 seconds of fame isn't worth everyone else knowing just so they can have the social spotlight for 10 sec. Unless your kids don't come across it, they will know what it is when they do and its best that if thats a possibility they know discreet it should be kept. So either tell your kids or keep it in a room / place that only you can access. I might add that my parents never deliberately or carelessly exposed me to it, i found it on my own snooping. I also hung out with a bad crowd and tried cigs at 10 or less, though it was less than 1 before we were caught. There's a chance your kids wouldn't think twice of it.
I'm 43, quit smoking years ago, started again last year at Dr.'s recommendation, single father of three teenage boys (15,17 & 19) and I've been completely upfront and honest with them. I've used it as a teaching moment. By no means do I encourage them to smoke, but I don't continue the government lies, either. Be honest with them, they're your kids.
In South Florida, garage will get way to hot unless you have a sep A/C for the room. Use a bathroom cabinet in your room with some cfl's doing 1 plant.
It's awesome reading the opinions of some of you older parents. I'm 22 an my parents have known I smoke, it was the best thing for me to be honest with them. I've bought weed from my dad which were homegrown mids basically but were amazing and my mom just cracks jokes when I'm high. She really likes to push it and crack jokes at family functions even though the rest of my family doesnt know short of a couple uncles.
I hate to think my kids would brag to their friends, but I do have that concern. I guess it falls under the TELL NO ONE rule in my mind. Plus, their dad would totally go ballistic (he never smoked and never knew I did in the 16 years we were together. Great marriage, huh?) God forbid he gets ammo to use against me in court if we ever got that contentious. We are still married (I need his health insurance as I work part time and am not eligible at my job) so our visitation is an informal arrangement. He could possibly file for divorce and custody, put my kids on the stand... I am a seriously stealth smoker and really think I need to keep it that way, at least until my kids are older. I have absolutely no desire to grow...I would rather just find a reliable source to buy from...but I don't have any contacts anymore since I moved back to Florida.
Yeah, that's a pretty sticky situation, plus you don't want to train your kids to lie or keep things from their father. You're probably right to keep it stealth. Sorry, if I was in Fl, I'd hook you up. :/
Edit: Ehh, I don't know, just a lot of personal info I think. Just make it normal, OP. Your kids are too smart to keep secrets from.
Ah, no. Kids are inquisitive & really smart. You might get away with it for a while but eventually they'll get wise. Could you possibly set up a grow cabinet or some such area that you could lock? The 13 year old is probably worldly enough to handle the truth but the nine year old??? Good luck with this whatever you do. Cheers
Agreed. Kids aren't stupid, and kids run their mouths. If you were in a medical state, maybe, but in a prohibition state, no way no how.
And depending what state your in Child Protective Services would take your children when word got out what a cool mom you are. If your lucky you'd get weekly visits & get them back in a year or two.
Grow outdoots. Even just a couple plants would yield you enough for the year of personal. But it can't be that hard to find a hook up. Maybe I'm spoiled in oregon but it seems like anywhere I go someone somewhere has something for sell. Id help if I was there.
I would go for a PC micro grow if I were you. It is one of the stealthier ways. Just put it in your room and make it look like you have a computer setup in there and grow. One of my friends hooked up a crappy laptop to the back of a monitor and hid the laptop on the back where it was hidden. Then he had the grow tower below. He wired the power button on the case to turn on the laptop on the back of the monitor. So it looked like the PC grow box was actually a computer was a pretty nice stealth setup.
Look into stealth box's. Dont involve your kids until they are about 16 imo, keep the stealth box in your room .
I think it is naive to expect to be able to tell a 9 and 13 year old about this and expect them to handle it maturely, for it to not influence them when someone in school offers them some bud (or coke, or something worse), for them to not tell anyone under any circumstances. Your thoughts about the situation with your not-ex-husband are prudent. I think you need to try to keep any grow you do hidden from them, but in the garage that could be very difficult -- aren't the kids getting into and out of the car with you in the garage all the time? Keeping proper temps in a grow space in a garage in Florida will require a/c, which makes noise, which will arouse their curiosity. Only proceed with this if you can put together a setup that you are absolutely sure they will never find out about or will raise their curiosity in any way.