It's back to school week for the kids. For a lot of them it's exciting and scary at the same time. My son started 9th grade, help me with the talk about good and bad decisions.

Every new school year brings new challenges for our kids. New faces, old faces, new schools and teachers. Each new year brings challenges we haven't prepared our kids for, and I want to make sure my son knows how to handle these challenges as they come at him in high school.

He's a great kid and makes good decisions generally. Being a new high schooler was scary for me as everybody looked so HUGE! Fortunately he's about 6 foot tall and could pass for a junior. He plays football and baseball and has a ton of friends. Most important, he's lived in the same city his entire life and knows most everybody. With that said, I know he's going to make bad decisions and give in to peer pressure at some point in time.

What conversations can I have with him to let him know how to make it through the next 4 years in high school and come out clean, happy, and having achieved goals he should have and be ready for adult life?

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