If you're lucky enough to have a stable, long lasting marriage, more power to you, Steve from Surrey. But don't characterize good character and/or good luck as "family values."

Every Saturday in most towns you see the sad figures of "weekend dads" sitting at tables in Burger King or McDonald's spending "Quality Time" with their estranged children.

Friday and Saturday nights they see their single parent mothers going out with the girls to rekindle their youth.

Sunday mornings children get to meet an array of one night stands coming down the stairs from mummy's bedroom.

And what do you want us to make of this pathetic example, GUEST Bob? "Family values" is a Madison Avenue term coined on behalf of the Republican party. It has nothing to do with the fact that the individuals you describe don't have coping skills or the self-confidence to move beyond seeking a feeling of self-worth through the validation of others. Maybe their parents never taught them how to entertain themselves and how to recognize their own self-worth? Maybe it's your generation that fell down on the job, teaching your now-adult children how to cope? Were you so busy keeping up with the Joneses or trying to be pals with your children that you forgot that it is by example that you teach them how to be good adults and parents? They had to learn it somewhere. You know the saying. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

SRS