Even when he is present, he is too busy ogling "Desperate Housewives" to pay much attention to her.
One of the things that strikes me about these kids is that they have no notion of responsibility or consequences. They are emotional toddlers when it comes to their sexuality. Yes, that image is disturbing, but it is accurate. We don't raise our children to maturity before puberty. We leave them to go out in the world at eighteen still very much unacquainted with responsibility. For that matter, we often send them out at 13 or 14 with an independence completely unfitting their foolishness.
So they drink and screw rampantly.
There are whole industries built up around that 'foolishness'. Seen the house owned by Joe Francis?
Ping to respond later ... we have to leave for church shortly. I liked what you said on the thread about abstinence education.
You're right about that, and it's something that concerns me very much as a parent. How do you give children *real* responsibility, with real consequences for failure? Household chores are all very well ... but if they're not done, it's a nuisance, not real hardship. Same with schoolwork.
As I said somewhere up the thread, many students in college aren't "grownups in the real world." They're kids whose parents are still taking all the financial responsibility for them. And when they graduate, many will move back to Mom or Dad's house.
Aside from the military, which has its own ups and downs - promiscuity being one of the "downs" - I'm kind of stumped about how to develop genuine responsibility in the children.