| I have reached the stage where my teen is | | | | implicitly. That trust is worth all the anxieties I |
| about to become an ex-teen. I have not been | | | | suffered when she was deeply in love with |
| committed to a mental asylum - not officially | | | | someone far too old for her at the age of fifteen. |
| anyway. I have not been driven to the point of | | | | It would have been so easy to pick up her diary |
| disownment and, as far as I can tell, my daughter | | | | and read her private thoughts and assure myself |
| still loves me as much as she did when she was | | | | she was being sensible, both emotionally and |
| twelve years old, before her teenage years | | | | physically. She was never one to leave her letters |
| threatened to make jibbering lunatics of us all. | | | | and diaries in a secure place because she trusted |
| I therefore consider that due to my finely tuned | | | | me never to touch them. Instead I chose to talk |
| survival techniques, and although I have no | | | | to her and let her know that she could always |
| professional qualifications on the subject of child | | | | speak to me about anything which frightened or |
| psychology, I have some entitlement to express | | | | bothered her, no matter how shocking or scary. |
| an opinion on the subject of teen privacy. | | | | Not only that, she is confident that I will never |
| I consider that even though we have had our | | | | force a confidence from her until she is ready to |
| moments, I have been more than reasonably | | | | share a problem with me, even if I am bursting to |
| fortunate with regard to my daughter's naturally | | | | know what is going on in her life. |
| affectionate nature, which has seen us through | | | | She has repaid my trust in her, by trusting me. |
| bomb site bedrooms, Gothic fashions and | | | | We enjoy a deep and exceptional friendship and |
| cosmetics, and the complete destruction of all my | | | | my main concern now is how I shall survive |
| attempts to instill a sense of responsibility with | | | | without her when she leaves home in a month or |
| regard to how long one can leave a wet towel on | | | | two. |
| the bathroom floor before mould develops. | | | | It is supremely difficult to have faith in your |
| I have found, through resisting every urge to | | | | children sometimes, but if you can maintain a level |
| trespass upon my daughter's privacy, that she | | | | of respect for their privacy you will be rewarded |
| has reached the age of twenty trusting me | | | | handsomely in the end. |