Parenting is tough, but parenting alone is nearly impossible. Unfortunately, we can't give up. I mean I guess we could, and obviously some parents do. But the bottom line is that, once divorced, we have to keep on parenting. And it is definitely a job better shared by two.

My daughter flipped out on me. She is almost 13, and she has simply gone over the deep end. What went wrong? Don't know. Hell, she's just a kid. But she has gotten an idea in her head that she's in charge of her life and that I do not have any right to tell her what to do.

How does this happen?

You give and you give and you give of your time, your love, your compassion, your understanding. You try to give them most of what they need and some of what they want. But somehow they still feel deprived. Somehow they are completely convinced that you have ruined their happiness.

Ah, there's the rub.

And how do you change this?

She threw her brother's $400 Wii on the ground (twice) to prove to him what it feels like to lose something you love. In her case, it was DirecTV. But she'd been behaving so badly that I had to take away something for punishment. The following morning she was acting like someone who was demonically possessed and was refusing to go to school. She was practically foaming at the mouth. No, I'm serious.

I can't exactly manhandle her; she's my child. But I did threaten to spank her (something that almost never happens), and eventually I did. I got "the belt" and I popped her a few times. She was still uncooperative, so I called the school and she ended up talking to the counselor. The counselor told her she didn't have to go to school, but would need to return tomorrow.

So the school counselor helped her get what she wanted. And worse, when she went to school the following day, they asked her about her spanking and whether or not she had any marks. Good God!

And she had a quarter-sized bruise just above her right knee and they actually took a picture of it!! What?? I didn't give her that bruise. She is crying child abuse and behaving as if she has the most horrible existence on the planet and she hates me.

I did talk to the counselor and I did inform her that my daughter will get another spanking if necessary. And if the Department of Human Services needs to be called in to investigate, bring it on!

Okay, that's the latest. How does this help any of you? Not sure. But if you have a child going nuts on you and if you find yourself, alone, raising a person you do not recognize, I'm right there with you.

This is one of those "I have to stand my ground" times. And I will. She has no music, no TV, no iPod, no phone, nothing. She cannot go anywhere and no one can come see her. Her life, as she knew it before, has just ended.

And for how long? As long as it takes, sisters, as long as it takes.