I think that letter writer #1 is guilty of her own accusation — she is applying her own baggage to others. It may come as a surprise to LW#1, but not all people need a 12-step to live happy, healthy lives. Some people are just plain & simple "normal" regardless of their less than perfect upbringings. I am living proof of that thank you very much!

Dear #2 Letter Writer: No matter how much a man and woman love eachother and carefully plan a family, divorce can still happen. 1 kid or 7 kids, 1 year married or 20 years married. It really can happen to anyone. And I mean anyone — even you someday. So my best advice is to never depend on someone and always have means to support yourself. Or just don’t bother having kids — then you will never run the risk of being clumped together with other poor, clueless women by your daycare provider…

In perfect agreement! You must be a teacher??? To everyone who thinks you can’t be strict with a 1 yr old (that doesn’t mean "punishing" him/her). It really is a must to establish boundries right away with a child. I have a very respectful 16 yr old to prove it!

letter #2 — I hate it when people are late too. It is very inconsiderate. I think it was Dr. Phil who stated that chronically late people are selfish. I have a late person in my life (my mom). She is even late to really important things - like my sister’s wedding! It angers me so much! What I do is tell her that we need to be someplace an hour before we really do. Although I would rather my mom see the error of her ways, I really think she is too self-centered for this. So, those of us around her have to figure out ways to trick her into being places on time. It is silly and maddening, however, when dealing with someone like that, it is unfortunately necessary.

I assume that getting this behavior from your ex is even more maddening, so I wish you luck! Be the bigger person and don’t let it get to you — it will not help with getting him to show up on time and it will make your boy feel bad. I agree with Margo - it is probably OK (depending on where you live) to let your son wait at your house for his dad, so maybe that will help a bit.

I regret 4 things the most: Number one is eating out pretty much every night up until I lost my job a month ago. Number two would be the extra XBOX 360 I bought a few months ago when I had to send the first one in for repairs - that was just silly!! Nobody needs 2 XBOXs!! Then of course going to Target every week and spending money on things I can’t even remember buying and my addiction to iTunes. Can a person even listen to that many songs??

I see your point about the innocence of yester-year. However I disagree that sex education has anything to do with promiscuity. I think the media and superficial pop stars have more blame than sex education. I had sex education when I was a youngster and I assure you that it was not focused on the enjoyable aspects of sex — it was quite informative and mechanical if anything. So again, it goes back to the parents. Parents need to be more active in their children’s lives.

perhaps steroids — that can make a guy want to strangle his own mother

I totally agree!

I don’t know why, but I too need noise around me. Even when I am reading, I need the TV on. When I am cooking or working, I need my iPod. When I am driving I have the radio loud and sing along… you get the picture. I am well into my 30s and it is just the way I am. My husband likes quiet. We have been together for 13 years and after the first 2 or 3 we have found a balance that works for us. It occured naturally, without much fanfare. I hope that the first writer finds this balance with her mate. You know, on many occasions my husband simply tells me to pipe down. Honestly, sometimes that it what it takes to shut me up!!

When I was in middle school (20 years ago) I knew a 12 year old girl who had a baby. You know, when someone is that young I think they really just don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. She was happy and nonchalant about the whole thing. That is probably what is going on with these kids. Also, I don’t think it has anything to do with the youth of today. This has been going on for decades and it will continue to go on as long as some groups think that an abstinence only approach to sex education is the best way. Obviously some kids fall through the cracks with an abstinence only approach. Not to say this would have been avoided if they had access to condoms, but perhaps. One thing for sure, if the parents had been watching the children more closely this may have not happened. The girl obviously has some sort of issues if she has been this promiscuous at 15. So don’t blame the kids. If they were older, then yes, the blame lies with them. However, I think 12 and 15 are just too young to be 100% accountable for their actions.