While reading "Teenage Wasteland" by Anne Tyler, I remembered back to a few years ago and the position I was in as a stepparent. People say we shouldn't have any regrets in life, only lessons learned by the mistakes made. I sometimes think that people who say that do not have children of their own. It is always hard to know what decision to make when it comes to the well being of a child.
             Many times as parents we tend to think about the big picture instead of the pixel we are living in at that time. Donny, the boy in this story, appears to be your typical teenager. Knows everything, does not feel he should HAVE to go to school, hates homework, etc. Myself being a parent, having received a phone call from school, I would want to hear the child's story before forming my opinion of the situation and choose my direction of resolution carefully.
             It seems that all Donny's mom is concerned about is the image she projects as a good parent. She wants the school to know she is concerned and involved, but does not seem to interested in knowing why Donny is behaving the way he is. Like most people, how others view us is important to our individual self-esteem. We like to think it is important, but deep inside most of us learn to push that concern aside and live for not only ourselves, but our families too.
             Donny is later expelled from private school and is forced to attend a public school by his parents. His cries for help were ignored rather than dealt with. My stepdaughter made little cries for help here and there, but it took a big cry for help for us to hear her and fix what needed to be fixed. In today's world would the average parent see Donny's cry for help or would we do the same as his parents did?
             Having been in a very similar situation, I cannot see why or how a parent can just take a side to a situation without trying to understand it. Donny did decide to leave home
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