Oh my goodness! My heart certainly goes out to you. I have an eighteen year old and have struggled to get her qualified for the small scholarships that she has. Your daughter will certainly regret her decisions once it hits her, as you know. I sure will be praying that she sees the light and that your heart mends.

God bless!

i have to say that im 30 right now, and i left my home when i was 18, and i was very happy but my situation is different, i had a mother who lived with my dad but they were divorced, because i fell in love and had a boyfriend, they sent me to a correctional facility and it was so traumatic, i still have the effects of it (nightmares etc.) i could not stand to be anywhere around my family. my brothers tried to ruin my boyfriend, and my mother stuck by them. my father didnt get very involved. luckily we had a church we went to, where the preist stood me and my boyfriend, who is now my husband, he stuck by me since i was 15 and we are very happy.

Angel, thanks for giving us another perspective. This is so important for mothers of teens to hear. I hope you'll stick around and shed soem more light in the forums.

I left home at 18 because I had a modeling contract to fulfill. I thought I was so grown up but then, I wasn't nearly ready to be on my own. I met this handsome young man and I thought he was just the bee's knees and I didn't recognize the family name. Well, his father was one of the highest ranking mobsters in America and was actually in hiding from a Grand Jury so he wouldn't have to testify. I didn't learn until later that we were followed by the FBI everywhere we went and his phones were tapped. Even when I took him home to meet my parents, the local police were notified that he was coming to town. I was clueless for a while. They wanted to know where his father was and bad!

I finally figured it out and at that age, I thought it was glamorous and exciting but it got old and I dumped him. Surprised I wasn't found in a river with cement shoes on my feet.

Say Dianne thats about the only kind of shoe you haven't worn, RIGHT???? and thank the Lord for that.....LOL

hardy, har, har!

My goodness Dianne...that's some experience. Isn't it amazing how resilient we are when we're young, thinking we can take on the world. Thank God for youth and its innocence. I think in alot of ways its our innocence that can protect us, even unknowingly. As long as we're tapped into our own inner core.

When I was 18 I quit grade thirteen and hitchhiked with my boyfriend all through the U.S and across Canada. I swear to God I had angels who picked me up. They were forever giving me advice, taking me home to meet their family and giving us dinner! I will always remember the kindness of Americans. That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life....meeting such kind people across the U.S. nation and getting to experience the grandeur of the U.S. and its amazing landscapes!

With regard to kids leaving home. My son wanted to move to Alberta because his girlfriend was moving there. He was 18. He still had one more year to go in high school. I told him that he had to finish high school. After that he was free, a free man. The minute he left high school he went to live with his girlfriend ( who became his friend) and her family in Alberta, to get work in the restaurant business. We live in the wilderness. Exactly one year later he returned home and told me of his experience in the work world. He had 2 managers, the first one was totally perfect, organized, fair, knew what he was doing but the second one, came in, started firing people and created total chaos. My son couldn't believe the way business worked. So he came home.

He said he'd never leave B.C. again and he'd create his own job. He missed the mountains, the clean water, the fresh air and his family! He's with us now! And I thank God I had the courage to give him his freedom! What a sweetheart! He even helped me scan my 360 page manuscipt into Word on the computer before he left. What a job that was! I am truly blessed by a son who sees wisdom and is following his creative heart!

Raising kids in their late teens is like walking a tight rope sometimes...you've got to gage their wisdom, their heart, their creativity, their goals and the yearning for their spirit's freedom as well as peer pressure. I found the one main thing that was important was teaching my son how to think for himself! Instead of being blown about by the wind following his peers thoughts and deeds. I also told him the truth, I agreed with him that school was crap, but he had to do it, a) because that was the way the world worked and b) because school would expand the mind and his ability to think. He agreed! In Canada, school has been dumbed down extensively...what is required of the kids now is just a drop in the bucket compared to back in the seventies when I went to school.

Kids are getting a raw deal, right across the board, systems designed to churn them out into the world with no training, no understanding, and no wisdom. Schools that teach random courses that will not benefit kids in the real world! Rising costs in education that benefit school boards and not the kids.

I think in these times it's important to find the talent in your children...their interests and nurture them...because they came in for a purpose and its our job to help them find their purpose and to help give them an avenue to express it.

And I feel for those kids who leave home because of abuse and pain. God that would suck..being a kid and nowhere to go for peace.

With love
Leigha

Leigha, I did a lot of hitchiking in my late teens too and had mostly great experiences. Thank goodness we lived through them too.
I agree about school. Our kids went to school for their first few years and then we pulled them out to homeschool/unschool. I know it's not for everyone but we all loved it and my kids definitely think for themselves. Did/does anyone else here homeschool their kids?

Dream of the Circle of Women
by Dahti Blanchard
published May 2004 by Spilled Candy Books
visit: www.dahtiblanchard.com

I too was a hitchhiker-1969 and I was supposed to be in college but an anti war demo shut down the school and someone said- let's go to SAN Francisco- I was there!!
What I did to my poor momma
Don't know how we survived- people wqere different in lots of ways- except for Charlie Manson types
I always seemed to get picked up by Southern mommas who made me feel bad about my momma
I never did get back to college-I'm not sure I regret it

Hitchhiking? I'm glad you all survived. Can you imagine doing that now?

Dahti, Danita homeschools.

Leigha, raising teens is tricky business. Some days I'm good at it, and other days I stink. One of my biggest messages to my kids as they cut the apron strings is this:

It's not you I don't trust...it's the rest of the world.