DOING DRUGS WITH
PAUL DILLON

As many of you know I was in Europe for the past few weeks and some of you may have seen my Facebook posting re: the UK mother who had spent a ridiculous amount of money on her 11 year old daughter attending a primary school prom. The story attracted a great deal of attention in the UK with many of the comments focusing on what would motivate a parent (who quite clearly was not able to easily afford such a large amount of money - she had to take an extra cleaning job to pay for it!) to do such a thing. The girl was given a £200 dress, provided with three limos (what were they for?), a beautician and a stylist and of course, the obligatory fake-tan! I'd love to be able to say that this only happens in the UK or the US but I have certainly been to schools where primary school proms are now held each year. It needs to be made clear that these are never organised by the school, it is the parents that are putting these on, with committees being set-up early each year to ensure that th...

I was speaking to a school counsellor recently and asked her what was the main issue she dealt with when talking to teens. Her answer was not surprising and very similar to what I hear from young people ... students having issues with their parents - discussions that usually started with - "my parents are trying to control me", "they are constantly interfering and wanting to know what I'm doing and who I'm with" and "my parents want to ruin my life!" Didn't we all feel like that to some extent? That's just a part of adolescent life. A teen's response to their parent when they do ask the difficult questions, however, can be devastating. I can't even begin to imagine how it must feel for a parent when their child turns around and says "I hate you!" So is it worth it - does putting boundaries around your teen, stopping them from doing things and making sure you know where they are and who they're with really make a di...