An SFGate article about out of control teenagers seems like a perfect place to hang a little rant: We were at a showing of a couple of short works at the local high school, one of which Zack figured prominently in (a short film adaptation of a Stephen King story). At intermission we were talking to various folks, and a parent said "so, is that everything you were in?" And I watched as a young man tried to tell his mother that, yes, that may have been everything that he appeared in, but he'd been involved in the creation of all of these pieces, that these were his friends, and, in the subtext, couldn't his mother spend the additional 45 minutes for the second half to keep in touch with his interests?

I was blessed by parents who took an intense interest in my life, so my baseline is pretty high, but when I watch exchanges like that I have zero sympathy for the parents who come home early to discover hundred plus person parties.