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TEEN ADVICE:It is important to remember that the transition from child to adult is difficult for teenagers as well, writes JOHN SHARRY

BEING A parent is a bit like being the captain on a long boat or plane journey with your children. You start the journey with a destination in mind and a navigation plan, but throughout the journey you can get thrown off course by different challenges and problems, much in the same way as a plane is put off course by the weather or other air traffic. Being off course as a family is, in fact, quite normal. As Stephen Covey says, “Good families – even great families – are off track 90 per cent of the time!”