I can't believe this absolute garbage.

This idiot lady thinks she's a "parenting expert"

She's talking about cliques, bullies, and video games like she actally knows A THING about what she's talk about.

I feel sorry for this womans poor children, who she is obviously going to force to share her retarded values. Oh no, you can't allow children to think for themselves! You're ALWAYS right because you ALWAYS know the full story and whats ALWAYS happening.

Yeah, some kids are bad, but just because someone may make C's doesn't mean he's a drug addict.

Pathetic.

this is complete shit...

My mum HATES my little clique. as said by david, just because you get C's, doesnt mean you're a drug addict...

your poor children much be robots.

who in hell would move because of your childs friends? PLUS YOU have no right to say who your child can, and cannot be firends with.

Hmm--
Trying to decide if the previous comments were from parents or angry teens.

I do agree that C's don't make a druggie and that moving is no solution.

Wonder if the previous two:
a) had terrorized their parents or, through no fault of their own
b) had lazy parents who gave in to their every demand;
or if the two ever learned:
a) simple sentence structure
b) email etiquette about flaming
c) respect for others
d) how to disagree without being disagreeable.

P. S. I'm probably setting myself up for a good "shellacking", but that's okay.

I completely agree with Dr. Michele about when you do not like your childs friends. Not liking the friend is one thing and if it unfounded then leave it alone...but when your child is beginning a downward spiral why wouldnt a parent intervene immediately and if necessary, drastically?

Yea - slipping grades may be a bad indicator. I had my best grades when hanging around a pair of drug addicts. For the most part though, if your child is weak minded enough to be influenced negatively by thier friends - you have failed as a parent. Almost all of my friends could be considered "negative influences" - even now that I am an adult my friends are the type of people that most people wouldn't want their children around - yet I've managed to not change in the slightest. Bad parents have to worry about their kid's friends, mine were good enough to give me a good set of core values and a strong mind.

Valorie:
But moving? What about the wayward child's siblings, if any?

Dr. Borba:
I just realized you didn't mention the PINS program.

Just in case someone thinks I am "flaming" as I mentioned earlier, "PINS" is an acronym, not a flame.

If you have not taught your children to be strong enough to resist peer pressures and other harmful sources that may influence them, than you haven't been a very good parent have you?

If you have not taught your children to be strong enough in mind to resist peer pressure and other harmful influences that they may be exposed to then you havent been a very good pearent now have you? Even weak minded children can be taught to be good without a parental influence near.

(mostly) Everyone--seriously? Why disagree with everything this women has said. Sure, some things said are "out there" but she's right. Kids DON'T exactly know who the best person to befriend is, and it's not the parents fault everytime either. Maybe it's the friend.

No, getting C's isn't a drug thing, but, if you're failing every class, you must have little self-respect, and maybe as parents we don't want that kind of attitude around our children.

Please don't critcize what you can't deny. Thank you.

Eh. This is BS. Pure and simple. Below a certain age, which varies for each child, but you get my point; drastic measures such as moving are unnecessary, because young children still idolize their parents to the point where they simply cannot stand to see them hurt, and beyond that point, kids start to have the mental cognitive capacity to decide who their own friends should be, based on their OWN personality. Read that again, just to make sure y'all got it. It's not the parents, friends, or any other outside influence that makes someone who they are. It comes from INSIDE. And kids will choose to hang around people who mirror what they themselves are on the inside. The change you see (if it is negative) is likely a result of the friend's ability to make the kid more confidently rebellious around their parents.

Honestly, if a kid is so dumb as to chose friends for such surerficial reasons as listed in this article, than they're a complete idiot to start with, and their friends are just a side effect of being a moron.

I am incredibly relieved I didn't wind up with parents like that. What many adults seem to forget as they grow older is that even at very young ages, a child has it's own ideas just like adults. Parents are not all knowing, and if they let their children know that they can encourage the child to think for themselves. I hung around many people that would be considered bad influences. This has not changed what is really me. I'm 17 and I have written a novel. I owe it to my mother letting me make my own choices. People tend to learn better from experience rather than getting lectured.

The question is,"Are you parenting?" Do you care enough to make sacrifices for your kids? Do you love them enough that your willing to let them really dislike you when you don't let them "experience" what all their friends get to do? It is a balance of letting your kids make choices so that they do learn(even when it is painful), but also knowing that you are responsible for protecting from certain disasters that will truly harm them. You don't do this because you are "all knowing"; you do it because you are "all loving"! Guiding them with their friendship choices and teaching them early that "bad company corrupts good character" is wise and true advice. Kids will listen when they know you are motivated by love and not control.