"The Legend of Johnny Lingo" Movie Review Know Before You Go Film/Video Reviews from a Family Perspective Philip Boatwright, Editor As a baby, Tama washed up on the shores of a South Seas island, but as a boy he's been labeled a bad-luck troublemaker and shunned by the entire village. His only real friend is Mahana, an unloved and unwanted ugly duckling whom the other village girls tease mercilessly. Tama finally decides to seek a better life and leave the island on acanoe he built, but promises to return one day for his friend. His travels take him to the home of the famous sea trader Johnny Lingo, and there Tama grows to be a man of honor and virtue. Under the tutelage of the fatherly Johnny Lingo, Tama learns about sacrifices needed in the name of love. Eight years later he returns for Mahana - but will she take him back? The budget was small, there were no name stars, indeed the acting won#146;t garner Oscar attention, yet #147;The Legend of Johnny Lingo,#148; much like the little engine that could, is very determined. It struggles to entertain despite its shortcomings. With its pristine Polynesian locales and simple yet engaging story, the film becomes captivating. It#146;s a small film that very likely will go to video quickly, but in a summer season where most cineplexes rumble with aggressive fantasies that do little else other than go boom, the gentle little film is a treasure. #147;The Legend of Johnny Lingo#148; is a satisfying, eye-catching family adventure. G (I found nothing objectionable, but parents beware, our young hero and his only friend are put-upon throughout the film. People say the most unkind things to them, including the girl#146;s drunken father, who ignores his daughter whenever he#146;s not telling her how worthless she is. But by film#146;s end, many of these folks learn how special these two are, including the father, who we discover has deadened himself to the world through alcohol due to the loss of his beloved wife in childbirth. Like characters in countless Dickens' tales, these children take much verbal abuse, but they survive. The film sends a message that while you can survive bad behavior from others, it#146;s necessary to find someone who believes in you and cares for you. People, like everything else in nature, must be nurtured). #147;A great outdoors adventure for the entire family#148; For further information, visit www.moviereporter.com . "Know Before You Go" reg;Philip Boatwright, Editor Film/Video Reviews from a Family Perspective, Email: moviereporter@sbcglobal.net . Published by C. C. Publications, 835 Northstar Ct., Tonganoxie, KS 66086. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com More >>

A "Batty" Adventure By Patricia Chadwick patti@parentsandteens.com I#146;m about to tell you a true story in the life of my family. It#146;s a story of courage #150; staringdanger in the face and doing something about it. It#146;s about looking out for each other; watching each other#146;s back. It#146;s about a mom and two nutty teens trying to rid theirhouse of a very unwelcomed guest#133;a bat! It was 11:00 at night and my husband was gone on an overnight trip. I was settling into bed and my two teens, David (15) and Jeni (17) were settling in also. Next thing I know, David comes running into my room. Breathlessly he exclaims, #147;There is a bat in the house!#148; At first, I didn#146;t believe him. Baby D, as we lovingly call my 15 year old, loves to play practical jokes on me. When he#146;s not joking, he#146;s usually exaggerating. So I calmly replied, #147;Okay, what did it look like?#148; As I continued flipping through the pages of my magazine. #147;What did it look like? Duh. You know, a black thing with wings#133;that flies through the air. It was huge. It flew over my head and then out my bedroom door.#148; #147;Are you sure it wasn#146;t a moth that looked really big in the shadows?#148; (We tend to get a lot of moths in the house). #147;Mom! It is a bat!#148; So I told him to calm down. I had to think. Now, I generally think of myself as a very independent woman. I know how to take care of myself and my family. But this was different. We are talking about a flying creature, here, stuck in my house. What would I do? I hate bats. To be honest, I more than hate them. Bats freak me out. I suppose I should be used to them by now. It seems we get at least one bat in the house every summer, but my darling husband is always home to take care of them! The first time we ever got a bat in the house, we were in bed at night sleeping. I woke up and saw the shadows of the bat flying in my bedroom and my cat was trying to catch it. I screamed, #147;Bat!#148;, flipped on the light, ran out the door, slamming it shut and leaving my half-dazed husband in the bedroom with the bat flying around his head. I proceeded to lock myself in the bathroom. So as you can see, I wasn#146;t going to be much help here. Good thing I trained my teens to think for themselves#133;because I certainly wasn#146;t thinking clearly. My son assured me that he#146;d protect me. But just to be safe we better get his sister, to help. #147;Jennnnnnni! There#146;s a bat in the house#133;help!!!! Since bats are known rabies carriers, we had the foresight to protect ourselves. We all put on pullover sweatshirts with hoods. And believe me, the hoods were up. We also decided we needed weapons. So we each grabbed a tennis racket, David grabbed a baseball bat, and Jeni grabbed a roll of wrapping paper. Yes, wrapping paper. When fear is involved, rational thought flies out the window! So we were set for our quest to find the bat. We were really quite a sight, clad in our hoods and armed to the hilt. I mustered the courage to lead the troops, tennis racquet in hand, swinging wildly in front of me#133;just incase the bat was anywhere in the vicinity. We looked in all the bedrooms and the bathroom. We checked curtains and closets. No bat. We went down the stairs to the main floor of our home and checked the living room, dining room, front porch (it didn#146;t matter that the door was shut.) No bat. We proceeded to the basement, turning on all the lights and checking the entire area. No bat. My daughter and I turned on my son. #147;Are you SURE you saw a bat? We think you were seeing things!#148; But my son insisted, #147;There was a bat! It flew over my head.#148; As they walked into the kitchen, the kids screamed. The bat was hanging upside down on one of my kitchen cupboards. That threw me for a loop. Every time I saw my husband take down a bat, it was flying and he used the tennis racquet to knock it down. But this stupid bat was latched on to my cupboard. #147;Okay,#148; I whispered, #147;NOW what do we do?#148; First, I got close to make sure it WAS a bat. My eyes aren#146;t what they used to be. It was indeed a bat. But it just sat there. My kids decided to turn this into a science lesson. #147;Do bats hear?#148; #147;Can they see in the light?#148; #147;Will it attack us?#148; Geesh. Are we city folk or what? My son then piped up with, #147;Is it a Vampire bat?#148; After hearing that last question I decided that my kids watch too many movies. I approached the bat with the tennis racket ready to hit it, but I just couldn#146;t do it. I was afraid I#146;d break the cupboard door or, worse yet, it would fly in my face. My son said, #147;I#146;ll do it#148; and as he started forward I screamed, #147;No, don#146;t#148;. I hate to admit it, but I was almost paralyzed by fear. If we couldn#146;t do this ourselves, we needed a Plan B. So our next thought was, #147;Who can help?#148; I thought of calling the police, but my son just laughed at me. #147;Who#146;d call 911 because a bat was in their house?#148; Obviously I would. Then I thought of our new neighbors. Some young adults moved in across the street and a young man lived there. My daughter voted against that one. She#146;d rather sleep in the house with the bat then ask this guy to help. What if his girlfriend was there? She#146;d feel like a baby. Jeni then suggested the older gentleman across the street (you know, ancient#133;my age). He was a more fatherly figure; so she didn#146;t have to worry about losing her cool. I went outside to see who had lights on, but felt so childish that I couldn#146;t take care of this myself. I went back in. We were back to square one#133; #147;What are we gonna do???#148; My daughter, the outgoing one of the family, decided to take the matter into her own hands. SHE would go get the neighbor. She dashed across the street clad in her wacky PJ#146;s which consisted of a long t-shirt and a pair of her dad#146;s boxers. She rang the bell and meekly told the neighbor our dilemma. #147;My dad is gone and we have a bat in the house. Can you come and help us and kill it?#148; Poor guy. What could he say. So Dan trudged over across the street to our house to assess the situation. #147;What do you have to capture it with?#148; #147;Tennis racquets and a Tupperware container. That#146;s about it.#148; He came in the kitchen and stared at the bat. #147;Yep, it#146;s a bat.#148; Seeing that the #147;men#148; didn#146;t need us at this point, my daughter I ran out the door and hid behind the van in our driveway. In a matter of seconds Dan and my son came out with the bat caught between two tennis racquets. They tossed it into the grass and then it flew away. Then they walked toward us with a swagger. #147;Well, that#146;s taken care of#133;#148; We thanked our neighbor profusely and I assured my son that he was very manly, even though we needed another man#146;s help. We tried to settle back into bed. It was tough. #147;Can I sleep in your room?#148; asked David. #147;Sure#133;just keep the door shut#133;just in case.#148; Jeni didn#146;t feel the need to sleep with us#133;until one in the morning when I heard my door creak open. David I both screamed. It was just Jeni, not the bat. *whew* #147;I can#146;t sleep#133;can I come in here?#148; So there we spent a rather restless night. We jumped at every noise and laughed about our zany antics as we tried to get rid of the bat. And we thanked God for a friendly neighbor. We were sure glad when Dad came home. Tonight we can sleep in peace. Patti Chadwick is a freelance writer and creator of two websites: www.parentsandteens.com is geared to help parents connect with their teens; www.historyswomen.com is an online magazine highlighting the extraordinary achievementsof women throughout history. Visit her online and sign up for her FREE newsletters! Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

Until Kids Do Us Part Homebodies By Cheryl Gochnauer Cheryl@homebodies.org Copyright 2003 "I love being an at-home mom," says Lee, a 30-something with a couple of boys, ages 2 and 5. "I love the rewards of children. But I feel like it will be an eternity before I get my husband back, all to myself. "We have a very wonderful and solid marriage, but with little ones around, all our conversations are hurried and interrupted." Lee misses quiet walks and spur-of-the-moment getaways, and when she heard some friends were going on an exotic vacation - again - her heart sank. "What I wouldn't give to spend a week all alone with my husband, to savor the joy of being married. I would revel in the opportunity to lay on a beach somewhere and watch the sun go down, momentarily leaving the cares and worries of life behind." But she's a stay-at-home mom. There's no money for exotic vacations. There's hardly enough money for a movie! "People tell me that this time passes quickly, but right now it feels like a life sentence," Lee admits. "I strive to find the joy in the little things that I do to serve my family. And most days I am successful." She still misses quality time with her husband, though. I'm sure there are lots of women nodding their heads as they read Lee's words. It's easy for our relationships to get off-balance, especially when children are very young. Babies and toddlers are so high maintenance! The good news is, it does get easier as they get older. Preschoolers are easier than toddlers; 6-year-olds are easier than 4-yearolds. The bad news is it may be MONTHS before the current stage eases. So what to do? If I can't head to the islands with my lover, what's Plan B? "Bump time with your husband up on the priority list," suggests Nina, a Canadian stay-at-home mom. "Keep him in mind as you survey the different areas of your life. Some things about having a busy, young family you can't change, but others you can. "It's said so much that now it's a clicheacute;, but PLAN IT IN! If you get too caught up in the day to day, you'll never have time to relax, grow, have fun, etc. You know in your heart that if you neglect yourself, you and your family will suffer for it." "Make sure the kids are getting to bed at a decent hour so that you and your husband have some time together in the evenings." Note Nina's key phrase "decent hour". Wait until you're exhausted, and you slip into a coma instead of into something comfortable. "Write notes to each other. I tape little notes inside my husband's lunch pail." Get out of the house and away from the kids. "When you visit relatives, take advantage of it," Nina advises. Let them enjoy the youngsters while you and your spouse go spend time together. "Brainstorm with your husband about other ideas such as these that you can incorporate into your life to ease some of the struggles."Where there's a will, there's a way. Stand still in the swirling storm of diapers, tricycles and Beanie Babies. Look your husband in the eye, tell him you love him, and join forces. You'd be surprised how many creative ideas a motivated couple can develop in carving out time together. And the children will ultimately benefit, too, as that primary relationship in the home - between husband and wife is given the nourishment it needs to grow and shine. Get more family-friendly ideas from Cheryl's "Stay-at-Home Handbook: Advice on Parenting, Finances, Career, Surviving Each Day More", available at your favorite bookstore . For an autographed copy, visit http://www.gospelcom.net/homebodies/bookstore/orderSAHH.php . Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

Stay-At-Home Checkup Homebodies www.homebodies.org By Cheryl Gochnauer Cheryl@homebodies.org Copyright 2003 If you're like most stay-at-home parents, you put a lot of time and energy into planning your move from the office to home. You lined out reasons for making the change, gathered the support of family and friends, and got your finances under control so you could ease into your new lifestyle. Likewise, you've probably given considerable thought to moving back into the workforce someday, after the kids are older and you're ready to pick up your briefcase again. Great - you've got the past and the future covered. But what about now? Every six months or so, I suggest couples sit down and take an objective look at how things are going. It's very common to go through a honeymoon period when Mom first comes home. You're reconnecting with your children, enjoying time with your husband, and feeling the relief of working a single full-time job instead of two (one at work and one at home). But then the stresses start seeping in. Money gets a bit tight; former co-workers call less frequently. There's no one to relieve you from the colicky baby, the kids are squabbling more than you expected and your husband's focus is once again on projects at work (instead of your adventure at home). You can't seem to get ahead of the housework, or you're all caught up and don't know what to do next. Frustrations build until you realize you're one unhappy mom and Oreos have become your new best friend. Stop! Step away from the Haagen-Dazs and ask a friend or relative to watch your kids for a few hours so you and your husband spend some quiet time together. It's time for a "checklist chat". STAY-AT-HOME CHECKLIST Why are you home? Why does your husband think you're home? What do you love about being a stay-at-home mom? What does heappreciate most about your arrangement? What frustrates you? What is he uncomfortable with? Do you need to revise the way you're handling money? How can your husband help you be more successful as anat-home parent? How can you make him feel more secure? Which friendship would you most like to cultivate? Schedule ablock of time each week when Mom will be "off the clock", free from household and childcare responsibilities. Mark your calendars for another checklist chat in about sixmonths. Comments? Email Cheryl@homebodies.org or visit www.homebodies.org to read more articles relating to at-home parenting. Copyright 2003 Cheryl Gochnauer. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

Tackling Back-To-School Expenses Homebodies www.homebodies.org By Cheryl Gochnauer Copyright 2003 Just when I#146;d settled into my summertime routine, the ads started blaring: #147;The first day of school is right around the corner!#148; According to local retailers, it#146;s time to hit the stores in search of the perfect everything. In the face of this media blitz, my one-income budget demands a clear head and a bit of creativity as I begin gathering true essentials for the coming school year. SCHOOL SUPPLIES. Thanks to discount stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target, school supplies aren#146;t too scary. Since everybody needs them, competition is fierce. They#146;re practically giving away glue, markers and folders, hoping that you#146;ll pick up a backpack or two while you#146;re there. Resist the impulse and recycle last year#146;s more expensive items whenever possible. Use coupons and bring competitor#146;s fliers for price matching. Keep your eyes open for rebates, which are very common this time of year. CLOTHES, COATS AND SHOES. Hopefully you remembered to purchase the kids#146; fall and winter coats last spring at the 70 percent-off sales. If not, it#146;s not too late to scour neighborhood garage sales in search of a gently-used jacket. Since jeans are the uniform of choice for most students, watch sales. Recently I spotted flares at Wal-Mart for my 5th grader - $15 jeans marked down to $10, then $7, then $3 each. I grabbed five pair and headed to the registers, where they rang up at ONE DOLLAR EACH. (God bless Sam Walton!) EXTRACURRICULARS. There#146;s not much lee-way in dodging sports and band fees, but you may be able to save on the uniforms and instruments. Check the classifieds for second-hand items. Email friends and classmates to see if anyone has something you need for sale. Ask coaches and tutors for leads on used equipment. If there#146;s a good chance your child will be on the same team next year, allow some growing room. Buy a little big; there#146;s a good chance that soccer or cheerleading outfit will work for two seasons instead of one. FUNDRAISERS. Most schools kick off with some type of fundraiser. Parents, I hear those groans! But don#146;t turn away every kid who knocks on your door, because they might be peddling something that benefits YOU as much as their sports or drama team. I#146;m talking about those Entertainment and Gold Coupon books (and their many clones). I love these buy-one, get-one-free deals. They allow me to splurge on a night out or fun fest #150; at half-price. The books usually pay for themselves the first time I use them. Hint: Think through fundraisers before pitching products to your neighbors. To offset cheerleading costs, I bought 20 fundraising coupon books at $1 each #150; which my daughter was then supposed to sell for $5 apiece. (She would pocket the extra $4 per book, clearing a total of $80.) But each book #150; which offered discounts at my favorite grocery store #150; included a #147;$5 off the total purchase#148; coupon, along with another $50 or so in additional savings. Since I shop at that store every week, I gave my daughter $80 toward her uniform, kept the books and used the coupons myself. The $5-off coupons alone saved me $100, plus I saved hundreds more with the remaining coupons in the 20 books. Next year, I#146;ll buy FORTY books and double this year#146;s savings! MORE QUICK TIPS: If your kids don#146;t take the bus to school, carpool with other families. (That goes for before and after school practices, too.) Most days, have children take lunches instead of buying at the cafeteria. Get required vaccinations through your local county health department, where shots are often offered at a discount or free. If you#146;re paying tuition, work part-time or substitute at the school to offset expenses. (It#146;ll make it easy to pop in on their class parties or keep an eye on your teen, too!) Comments? Email Cheryl@homebodies.org or visit www.homebodies.org to read more articles relating to at-home parenting. Copyright 2003 Cheryl Gochnauer. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

Classroom Helping Hands Homebodies By Cheryl Gochnauer Cheryl@homebodies.org The new school year is right over the horizon. One benefit of being a stay-at-home parent is having the flexibility to become more involved in our children's classrooms. But like any other endeavor, it's important to scope out the situation and see where we can be most effective. I remember thinking that, in order to be a good homeroom parent, I needed to be able to bake elaborate cut-out cookies and fashion presentation-quality table decorations from doilies, glue and glitter. Since I hate to bake and have no artsy-crafty skills whatsoever, I began to dread the periodic calls for volunteers. That is, until I learned a fundamental rule of parent participation: There's only one teacher, and 20-plus sets of parents. The teacher doesn't have time to discover our hidden talents. It's up to us to let the teacher know where we'd best fit in. I'm a communicator, so instead of me bringing in some burnt-around-the-edges cookies or some donuts I bought at the grocery store, I should volunteer as a story-teller. Or a whip-'em-into-a-frenzy game coordinator. However, I know a mom who can put together four loaves of the best banana bread you ever tasted in no time, and present it with a garnish. She loves to cook - and she should let the teacher know it. There's the cookie lady! Then there's the woman who used to work at Hallmark, who can do amazing things with construction paper, scissors and a glue stick. She's a perfect candidate for the bulletin board or party decoration committee. Find your niche, then jump right in. Your child and their teacher will love you for it. And be sure to volunteer for the daytime openings first, giving working moms a chance to help out with evening activities. If a call for volunteers comes at a bad time, be gentle yet straightforward - you won't be able to help out this time. But keep a copy of the upcoming events schedule handy so you can say something like, "Christmas is really busy for me. But go ahead and put me down for the Valentine's party." There are lots of ways a parent can participate in their child's classroom activities. Explore the various opportunities available to you. Volunteering is fun, once you find where you fit. Copyright 2000 Cheryl Gochnauer. Have you taken a look at Cheryl's book, " So You Want to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom "? Don't be fooled by the title - this inspirational book encourages working moms who want to come home someday, but ALSO helps parents already enjoying (or struggling with!) their at-home lifestyle. Request a copy at your local library, favorite bookstore, or online . Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

May Our Children Have Interesting Careers According to the RoperASW survey that has been tracking our definition of the good life since 1975, only 26% of Americans say they have an interesting job today, down from 40% in 1975. With as much time as adults spend on the job, how is it that most of us have careers that are not satisfying? How can we turn this around for our children, and perhaps ourselves? Jill Sanborne, creator of the MYCOOLCAREER.com career exploration Web site and Web radio show for teens and twenties, is out to increase the future job satisfaction among our youth. "What elements create career-love vary by the individual, and widely," says Sanborne. Sanborne has interviewed over 85 people who love their career, "but the two qualities that unite these diverse professionals are that their careers play to their strengths and that they find their careers personally interesting." These two qualities are also the ones that 60% of graduating high school seniors said, in a 2001 study, they wished someone had helped them determine before graduation. Sanborne says that all too often, how we choose college majors and careers has nothing to do with what kinds of career directions would make us happy, and that knowing our strengths and passions will lead to interesting careers. Sanborne says the three steps to a "cool" career are 1) career assessment, 2) exploration of career ideas for a reality-check, and 3) the education and training to get "there?" This week's career guest on MYCOOLCAREER.com 's Web radio show is John Payne, journalist and the music editor for the LA Weekly . Payne talks about his beloved career and offers advice to burgeoning. He says, "Read, read and read quality literature, and love what you do." Payne's career-love is created by an obsession for music, love for reading and a talent for writing. The LA Weekly is a large newsweekly in Los Angeles. MYCOOLCAREER.com is a career exploration website for teens and 20s with over 40,000 visitors per month. Sanborne, MYCOOLCAREER.com creator, studies careers, the future workplace, teens' dreams and provides solutions to the challenges they face in learning about and preparing for rewarding careers, is a regular talk show guest, and speaks to teens and parent audiences about how teens can prepare now for an awesome future in the new workplace. The site shows teens how to get to their own cool career in three steps. email: host@mycoolcareer.com Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com More >>

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"Freaky Friday" Movie Review Know Before You Go Film/Video Reviews from a Family Perspective Philip Boatwright, Editor THEATRICAL RELEASE Freaky Friday . Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Harold Gould, Chad Michael Murray, Christina Wood, Mark Harmon. Disney. Comedy. W-Heather Hach, Lesslie Dixon. D-Mark Waters. 8/6/03 Dr. Tess Coleman (Curtis) and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Anna (Lohan), are not getting along. They don't see eye to eye on clothes, hair, or music, and certainly not in each other's taste concerning the opposite sex. Everything soon changes when two identical Chinese fortune cookies cause a mystic mayhem. The next morning, their Friday gets freaky when Tess and Anna find themselves inside the other's body. They gain a little newfound respect for the other's point of view, but with Tess's wedding coming on Saturday, the two have to find a way to switch back (and fast). True, this genre has been done to death, but it is a great genre - having to walk around in another's body and world. And if it's done right, as it is here, the premise can be both hysterical and insightful. Everything works - the script, the direction and certainly the performances, making this a fun movie-going experience. A mix of slapstick situations and witty dialogue, this smart family comedy also contains some honest empathy as the two leads confront issues such as a teen dealing with her mother's upcoming marriage and a mom's anxiety as her little girl nears womanhood. If you are concerned about the "magical" element, rest assured the film does not promote any sort of mysticism. The supernatural contrivance of a mother and daughter switching bodies after cracking open fortune cookies serves only as a story device that leads to a clever and symbolic parable. It's not about Asian voodoo, but rather, about switching points of view. PG (2 minor expletives and 14 uses of the expression "oh my God" or variations of it; one crack about conservative clothing and selling Bibles, evidently implying that if one has something to do with Bibles they can't dress smartly; the surly attitude from the teen girl begins to annoy, but life lessons about love and family are learned by the precocious high schooler). DEFINITIONS Crudity - A word or action lacking in culture, tact Expletive - A mild obscenity or needless expression Obscenity - Objectionable or repugnant to acceptable standards of decency or morality; indecent; pornographic Profanity - Irreverence toward God Blasphemy - To speak contemptuously of God Adult subject matter - Situations or subjects unsuitable for or difficult to comprehend by children For further information, visit www.moviereporter.com . "Know Before You Go" reg;Philip Boatwright, Editor Film/Video Reviews from a Family Perspective, Email: moviereporter@sbcglobal.net . Published by C. C. Publications, 835 Northstar Ct., Tonganoxie, KS 66086. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com More >>

A Mother's Teen Angst Homebodies By Cheryl Gochnauer Cheryl@homebodies.org Copyright 2003 Something wonderful happened this summer between me and my 15-year-old daughter. It may sound unbelievable, but I think I actually LIKE this girl! Parents of elementary kids and under may be saying to themselves, "What's she talking about?" But those in the teen trenches will tell you - it ain't easy nudging these overgrown gangly birds onto the right flight path. They're perfectly ready to jump out of the nest; that's not the problem. It's the way they land with a thud or go "SPLAT" as they dive right into the nearest wall. (Which you've been pointing out as a hazard since they were six. But do they listen? Of course not. You're just their mom.) Since I'm a so-called parenting expert (a title I cherished until my daughter hit puberty and all the wheels fell off), it's been humbling to find myself regularly washed up on Beats Me Beach. ("Why do they do the things they do?" "Beats me.") One of the benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is that you're around to irritate your teen all the time. You're constantly there to provide direction (that they don't take), suggestions (that they don't follow) and protection (that they dodge as much as possible). At least it seems that way. Until the day arrives when you realize they were listening, after all. Not to the angry words or threats or temper; they tuned those out, and rightfully so. But somewhere in the flak they snagged chunks of advice that worked, most of which were sprinkled with large doses of parental love. And - amazing as it may seem - you've been listening, too. Somewhere along the way, you've found some middle ground where the two of you can do more than co-exist. You can respect and - surprise! - even enjoy each other. I used to comfort myself by saying, "Only six . only five . only four more years, and she's outta here." Now I think, "Only three more years, and she's outta here," but I've got a completely different expression on my face. I like this girl. I really, really like her. I suspect she'll send me and her daddy through the blender a few more times before she leaves, but I have a feeling the worst is over. Of course, I haven't handed her the car keys yet. Cheryl's latest book, is " Stay-at-Home Handbook: Advice on Parenting, Finances, Career, Surviving Each Day More " (InterVarsity Press, 2002). Visit www.homebodies.org or write Cheryl@homebodies.org . You can also read her column on the Web at www.gospelcom.net/homebodies/experts/cgochnauer/index.php . Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>