Free Range 15 Year-Olds

We're sure at least a few readers will offer comments that this is not the time for this particular blog. We think it's the best time.

Parents, your fifteen year old child is not an adult. He or she doesn't have the mental capacity to take care of themselves in our everyday world. Everything is funny to them. Cleavage is cute, said the young teen girl.

If Katy Perry does it, it has to be okay, right?

Yes, we know many children live in one-parent homes and are on their own much of the time. We know that not everything a child does is the parent's fault. Yet when most of the pictures of your daughter show what passes at her age for extreme cleavage, you need to take more interest in explaining the facts of life to her. If she wants to be a glamour model at 25, fine. She doesn't have the experience to make that call at 15.

And if she's posing in a provocative manner on Facebook, you can be certain the predators are out there just waiting to make a date with her, to whisk her off to God only knows where before you know she's even gone. Threaten them with a convent or making them listen to Pat Boone for an entire weekend; that should keep them in line. Just remember that you can't complain all that much over their fate if you never took any interest in their day to day activities before they became a runaway.

Be sure to check out our most recent Quad-Cities Cuisine:

Mr. Hui's Chinese Buffet