Pray for my Daughter Stephanie.

[ljustin293]

good luck with everything!!

[jayzwife]

Cheers to the success of all the treatments. We will celebrate with you when she is feeling great and making you nuts.

["prima"Donna]

My prayers are with you and your family everyday...hang in there, Stephanie...

[Crowley]

Good luck with everything .. you will beat this !!

Gary

[mamaro]

She's a fighter, bless her heart. We're praying for all of you.

[LadyinBlue]

Prayers from Ohio, Scott.

[Scott@Bjorn3D]

Ok this is how last night went with my just turned 16 year old. Her weekend curfew is 11:00. Well she calls us at 10:30 and says a friend has been in an accident and she wants to check on them. Says she will be home soon. So around 1:15am not a word from her. We have called her cell many times. So I start texting her. She does respond to that. Says she will be home in a while and they had to go to the police station. So I call my buds at the PD and they did not see my daughter there at all. She finally does come home but is parked in a car outside the bush line so we could not see them for about 15 minutes. Comes tromping in at 3:00 AM and wants to know why we want to have a talk with her.

We start talking to her and she keeps looking at her cell phone. BOOM Kathie gets pissed and takes the phone away. The kid is slurring her words, eyes glassy over and can't even stand up straight without rocking back and forth. And she smells of cig smoke.

Now I am the step dad even though I have raised her since she was 4. This is the 3rd time this week she has pissed me off and now has her mom mad. I say grounded until she moves out of my house after high school. But of coarse that will never fly. I did tell her and will try to reinforce it that if I smell smoke on her one more time grounded for 1 week.

All her friends she says smoke. I look at it this way, 16-17 years old smoking is againts the law and if they will do that they will drink.

Any input gang?

[Jamie Mac]

It does come back around doesn't it. Glad I'm not there yet. I bet taking that cell phone away for a month would hit home pretty hard. You should check with your carrier and see if you can get the tracking option. AT&T has it for $10 a month if I recall correctly. My wife put it on our daughters phone. We've never used it but from what we were told you go online and it will give you the cells location. It also sends them a text to let them know your tracking them. She won't like that of course but you just have to point out the whole broken trust bit. Good luck

[SQUALO]

Stick to your guns , and hopefully one day she'll realize you saved her life, in a social way. The parenting title is just an excuse, knowing what she did, got caught, and is trying to turn the fault on you.

I can't say for sure, but, if her so-called friends, are encouraging her to do things, and she is, to fit in, than those people are not "her friends". They're just outcasts looking for attention. Get to know her friends well, and tell them how it's going to be with YOUR daughter.

I don't envy trying to raise teenagers in this society of ours today, but if you don't lay the law down, the worst can come of it. Hang in there, and hopefully she'll realize that her family knows what's best for her, NOT HER FRIENDS.

[superstockcam]

Man, its such a tough subject! My son is 17 and my step daughter is 16, my fear is that they will take up this habit too. We lost my mother to a smoking related illness at 66, I don't drop the hammer about it but try to show them the evidence and pray! Good luck
________
Problems from prilosec

[jschuler]

I think that if you've been raising her since she was four then you are her father, regardless of the later marriage and have every right to discipline her without feeling like it's not your place. And I hate to break it to you, but slurring your words and having trouble keeping your balance is not the result of smoking cigarettes. You might want to look or smell for something else.

Oh, and when I was that age my punishment often included disconnecting the battery in my car, forcing me to ride the school bus to school. Not sure if she drives but that was definitely an effective method.

[Scott@Bjorn3D]

No she was drunk. We know it and she admitted to her mom when she tried to talk her way out of being grounded with a one and one with Kathie. I just hope Kathie finally see's that our daughter is out of control and needs to be brought back into line badly.

Just this week.

My Honda that she is driving she goes and breaks the battery on. I mean the batter is cracked on top from bouncing the car around.

Drives past me with some boy driving my Honda, another boy in the front seat and her in the back.

And now this. All in 1 week. I am really mad.

[Mark A Collier Sr]

Scott, I would be glad to offer options but I need more info before I can give you an honest evaluation! Are we talking about Stephanie(I thought she was 14) or an older sister?

[Xanthos]

Maybe she's reaching out for attention with all the stuff going on with Steph. You should talk to her (not give her a talking to, and don't ever accuse her of attention-seeking; that will throw things downhill faster than you can blink).

Of course, I've never had kids, so you should take this post with a rateher large grain of rock salt, but I was a kid once not so long ago (heck, I'm still a kid to some people at 21). I remember my mom used to come to me to talk about things that were bothering her. Like, not just complain about them - she would come into my room and ask if we could talk, and then spend an hour or more just pouring out her heart and asking for advice. It was profound that she would trust me with her problems like that, and I think its why I was always so comfortable going to her for advice.

Of course, I may be completely off base here.
- X