What's the world coming to?

[MisterD]

Now her parents are good parents, no-where near as harsh on her as they were to me (maybe cos shes a girl and has a different mother?) but this sickens me.

It's a side-track I know, but you do realise that all parents are always softer on the second child? Us oldest kids have to break the buggers in for those that follow us...

[Hawkeye]

I work with several teenagers who are too tired to come to school. Apparently they all have "chronic fatigue syndrome".
Apparently they often play on the XBox or PS till the wee small hours too!
Seems to me, their parents are letting them down big time.
Kick their lazy arses off to bed at a reasonable hour, and them kick them out in the morning, I say!

The power cord on my sons playstation and TV has been slowly getting shorter.
It happens every time the son thinks he can stretch the boundaries. Take one pair of wire cutters, apply liberally to the plug end of the cord and walk away.
It's amazing how the focus changes after that.

In this day and age where no-one is allowed to apply discipline without having the authorities knocking on your door, finding things that get through to them has to become inventive. Applying a hammer to a cell phone is also another one that certainly gets the attention. The cell was not a gift, it was a loner which I bought so it is my parogative (sp) to do what I want. Too many parents 'gift' their teenagers cell phones meaning it then belongs to the teenager. I prefer to 'lend' them one for safety reasons. That way, because it is only a loner, I have the option of recall.

[Bass]

The power cord on my sons playstation and TV has been slowly getting shorter.
It happens every time the son thinks he can stretch the boundaries. Take one pair of wire cutters, apply liberally to the plug end of the cord and walk away.
It's amazing how the focus changes after that.

In this day and age where no-one is allowed to apply discipline without having the authorities knocking on your door, finding things that get through to them has to become inventive. Applying a hammer to a cell phone is also another one that certainly gets the attention. The cell was not a gift, it was a loner which I bought so it is my parogative (sp) to do what I want. Too many parents 'gift' their teenagers cell phones meaning it then belongs to the teenager. I prefer to 'lend' them one for safety reasons. That way, because it is only a loner, I have the option of recall.

Now THAT is pro-active parenting. I am impressed.
Respect!

[ManDownUnder]

The power cord on my sons playstation and TV has been slowly getting shorter.
It happens every time the son thinks he can stretch the boundaries. Take one pair of wire cutters, apply liberally to the plug end of the cord and walk away.
It's amazing how the focus changes after that

LOVE IT!!!!!

I'm personally a fan of natural justice. The kid in question is welcome to play the damned playstation all night as far as I'm concerned. The fact is they need to be on deck the next morning for school and far as I am concerned that's where they'll be.

Wakey wakey at 7:30 or whatever - they feel like crap? COURSE THEY DO! And it's all their own damned fault.

The next night they'll be on the games again till the small hours... andf the following morning the cycle repeats... again.. and they feel like crap again!

It's amasing how quickly people work out their own actions are actually causing the problem. Fatigue Syndrome sounds like a label to sell therapy to me. More like "Can't be bothered syndrome"

[Edbear]

...and that was the end of me having to worry about her in that car......she feels great, because she can blame me for being a bitch, I feel great because she knows I will not hesitate to follow through.

Well put! It gives her cred with her schoolmates being able to blame you and also gives her confidence that you mean what you say - in this case a negative but transfers to the positive, if you know what I mean...

Next step is to convince her that she can make sensible decisions that go contrary to the silly mob- mentality and understand that her schoolmates will respect her for it even if it means a bit of ribbing at first. Letting them know she has her own principles and is prepared to stick up for them does good in the long term.

[mstriumph]

Morcs ---- isn't a quiet chat with your parents in order?

[Edbear]

It's a side-track I know, but you do realise that all parents are always softer on the second child? Us oldest kids have to break the buggers in for those that follow us...

I've apologised to my son! But he's 32 now and still loves us!)

The problem is that the poor firstborn has brand new, usually young, parents with no experience! We make all our mistakes on the first! Ours were 4-5 years apart and by the time number two came along, (coupled with being a girl and the direct opposite of our son's personality), we were starting to get the hang of it and then by the time our youngest was born, (another girl but about mid-way between her two older siblings), we were old hands at it and she was a breeze!

[Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)]

We had to be near dead to stay home from school. Crikey I remember having an accident on my pushbike - broke my nose, scraped knees etc - ok I had been told not to speed down the driveway (steep) which then curves round - well there was gravel on the turn - kasplat - went home got the "told you so" now get to school. This was at 14 years of age.

[Street Gerbil]

I feel for you, Peter. But remember, even the most spoiled brat these days has 3 weak spots:
1) Internet
2) Cellular phone
3) Allowance

Sapienti sat.

[marty]

my kids (12 and 16) don't get an allowance. they work (paper run and supermartket) for their $$.

their phones are their lifeline to their friends. my daughter is without hers atm. my son has gone without his recently.

with wireless internet is is surprisingly easy to block their laptops.

no tv's in the bedroom. PS2 has gone to a friends while NCEA study is on.

son went out to a party 4 weeks ago - decided to have a few beers and stay at his girlfriends place (normally OK, with permission discussed prior to going out), but we found that he DIDN'T stay there, instead staying at a mates house whose 'rents were in aussie! imagine how upset he was when we told him no more parties til xmas!

i'm the chairman of the BOT at my daughter's school, and go on hockey and school camps with the kids from the high school - went for drinks with the 5th form dean 2 weeks ago.......

joys of living in a smallish community.