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Dear Ann Landers,
am a mother whose heart is breaking. I raised eight children. My seventh child-a girl eighteen- just ran off and married a bum. We thought she would get tired of him or see for herself that he was no good, so we let them spend as much time together as they wanted. We even let her sleep weekends at his home, which we see now was a mistake. My husband and I think she is pregnant, and we blame the boy's parents. They should have kept an eye on them. I told off the boy's mother last week, and she ordered me out of her house. Our daughter heard about the incident, and now she won't speak to us. What can we do?-Made Fools Of
Dear Fools,
Take turns kicking yourselves for letting your daughter run wild, and attempt to do a better job with your other children. It was your responsibility to guide the girl and to instill in her a sense of personal worth. Parents who allow a teen-age daughter to spend weekends at her boy-friend's home and then blame his parents because they didn't keep an eye on them are looking for a scapegoat.