BLOODY KIDS

Who would have em. Two kids with high profile parents , Craig Norgate and Paul Holmes are under the spotlight. We feel very sorry for them, parents that is - not kids. Now we had a bit of a problem with the son and heir to BB's mortgages. He left school barely 16 did the drug experimentation at an early age. drank, got caught drink driving, peeing in a public place and crash a car. So he has been far from the model kid. A decade later he is a Helicopter pilot and instructor. But it has been a tough journey for him and me, moments of abject frustration and disappointment and fear and joy. The rollercoaster of parenting.

So the only thing we can say to parents of wayward kids is play it tough, be firm - don't mother them too much. Always be there for the little buggers.

Form alliances with other parents - the more eyes the less you miss.

Instill in them respect for the police no matter how you feel about them. Children must know that our society needs policemen and we must honour their position.

And after they get to about 25 - they are in charge of their own lives and you have to stand on the sideline.

Its time that the media stopped doing stories on rich kids in trouble. Would they be writing the story if it was about a tagger from Mangere? Or a P addict from Porirua? We know they wouldn't. All the media is doing to these kids is making it so much harder for them to get their shit together..

And thats just bloody tough on the kids...