Another thread reminded me of something I never spoke to my kids about but wish I had - cults.
When I was in college, one summer I was living in an apartment with some of my sorority sisters and they started talking about another member who hadn’t been around for a while. One said “I saw her talking to the Sunshine people.” I was like “you mean the Moonies?” Yes, the Sunshine people who had a house basically through our backyard. This girl was living in a frat house for the summer so no real roommates or eating schedule. None of my roommates knew what Moonies were. I was the expert as I’d read an article in Seventeen Magazine (some expert). I said “Call her mother.” No action. Days later, “Call her mother.” after about a week someone finally did. Her mother was on the next plane, chain smoked in my apartment overnight, then figured out a way to have the girl come meet in the backyard. Mother whisked her back to California for deprogramming and all turned out well.
I’ve been obsessed with Scientology lately because of the Masterson trial, which has caused me to listen to a lot of podcasts by those who have left. They often go into how they got into it, and if they weren’t raised in Scientology it is likely they joined as an 17-25 year old. Many wanted to explore more about life, to have a purpose and they got sucked into paying a lot for ‘training.’
But watch out for cults. I have one kid who rarely joined anything but the other was easily influenced by just about anything from video games to clothing to religion. And she loved to talked to anyone.