Dear Lady. Ann:
I am a single mom of a 15-year-old girl. I literally brought her up myself. Her father never stepped up to the plate and he left me to do all the work. He remarried and never wanted our daughter to sleep over at their house. I tried my best to give my daughter everything. I worked thrice as hard and bought her anything she needed. I never wanted her to feel unwanted or unloved. But it seems like all my effort was for nothing.
I know teenagers can be mean and tough, but I expected her to be different. I expected her to appreciate every struggle I have been through for her sake. What I have now is an ungrateful teenager. She never wants to study for school. All she does is party and hang around the wrong friends. We fought so much, so she decided to move in with her dad. I was not aware that they had been in contact for a while.
So, I reached out to him to talk to her and make her see why she needs to work hard to have a bright future. But he has ignored my instructions. Instead, he empowers her in all her foolishness and says she is just a teen. This is my only child and I can’t afford to watch her destroy her life. The kind of friends she hangs out with will only ruin her. All they do is drink, smoke and party. I live in constant fear of her doing something stupid that destroys her life. I don’t know what else to do.
-A Mom Living In Fear
#DLATribe, how can she help her daughter live a better life?