We hopped the fence on the community pool all the time when I was a teenager (at midnight). Neighbor kids tried to sneak in our pool at home when I was a preteen. Around 1987 when I worked for a water utility, some kids in the affluent neighborhood near the water treatment plant broke into a giant underground storage tank and swam around in the treated water. Not only was it incredibly dangerous, but they contaminated hundreds of thousands of gallons of drinking water. They're parents were fined $10,000 each, but the kids got off with a stern "no-no".

My brother climbed the water tower and painted something on it when he was a teenager. When I was a senior, we all got drunk and planted a giant rock on the front lawn of the high school, with the help of a front-end loader, walkie-talkies and lookouts. Then we painted Seniors 1980! on it. We never got caught.

In the meantime, my other brother was breaking into schools and riffling through the cafeteria and going to jail for it. It just depends on who gets caught and who does the catching, I'm afraid.

That said, at the house behind mine, two young people were having sex in the bedroom and no one told the girl that the boy's friend was hiding in the closet with a video camera. Bummer that this guy was 18--now he's being charged as an adult with child pornography or something, because the couple was under age. My son thinks he saw the two teens who live there smoking pot between their garage and the fence (why else would they be sitting in that small space?). They're rich and snobby, and have treated Will badly in the past, even though he's much younger than them.

I knew my kids would get into mischief, like I did. I tried to help them see that some actions have long-term consequences that will haunt you the rest of your life (like the sexual offender registry?), and so to make wise choices. I had a wonderful bed example in my jail-house brother, too. I didn't expect them to be perfect. I tried to make sure there were no consequences to telling me all the things they did (consequences for the actions is another thing). As a result, I know where both my older sons first had sex, and with whom! I'm not sure I cared to know, but I'm glad they felt comfortable with telling me.

Teenagers are going to do stuff. Everyone thought I was a "good girl", but my mother can never be told about a lot of things. I'm kind of like Dr. Laura on this kind of thing--You'll always be my child and I will always love you, and that's why I will send you cookies in jail! But if you deserve to go to jail, you're GOING.

Karen