My 15 year old daughters reaction to "Laptop dad"

[Gman]

255. You describe exactly how much effort must

go into raising kids. You've a lot to be proud of. I've always said to good parents whose older kids are just plain screwing up and they are torturing themselves about what they could have done differently, that they just need to rest assured they did the best they could and now it's up to the kids. I know, I've got a screw up 20 year old step-daughter. Nothing bad, but she just is very conte t with the minimum effort. She always has been. She had borderline grades and when we got into her about it she (one time only) said, "You should be proud of me that I'm not pregnant or on drugs.". I hit the ceiling and said, "You want a pat on the back for the minimum acceptable behavior??". Anyway, she's another story.

But OTOH, my son, who wasn't much different from the step-daughter when he was her age, finally got it together around age 30. He'll be 34 and is doing great. Too bad he wasn't like his sister who hit the ground running and was always a good student and all around good kid. She'll be 31.

My hat's off to you. It's tough and takes a lot of sacrifices that many just won't make. Your teens may drive you nuts, but they are good kids and will make good responsible adults.