A lot of good advice here. Of course, what works for one family won't necessarily work for another. For that matter, what worked yesterday won't necessarily work today. It might work tomorrow, though. Who knows? The most important thing I can add at this point is: DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!!!! You can be absolutely amazed at what sinks in without you or your teen realizing it at the time. All of a sudden, and it may take years to happen, you will hear your words coming from your child's mouth. Try not to fall over in a dead faint. Then you will know that the aliens have returned your child, whom they abducted somewhere around puberty and replaced with a monster. LOL!!

Seriously, though, sometimes the best thing you can do is simply help them survive as they make their own mistakes. I read once that people will make a certain number of mistakes in their lives. If they are not permitted to do it when they have parents and other support systems to help them recover, they will do it when the consequences are much greater and survival is less likely. Hang in there and try not to despair.

jeffp