My teen daughter is a freak

Dear Pastor,

I have one child. I am in my 40s. I am so depressed. My daughter has no respect for me.

Her father is not living in Jamaica. My daughter does not listen to me. She has become very bad. She goes out with different boys, and her friends told me that she has engaged in group sex. These things have caused me to feel depressed. We have tried to train her very well, according to what the Bible says. She has not denied that she has engaged in group sex.

She is a very beautiful girl. When I asked her why she had to engage in such a deplorable thing as group sex, she said the other girls were doing it, so she joined them. Here is my only daughter having sex with different boys. When I try to talk to her about it, she asks me why I should worry. She did not get pregnant. She is only 17 years old, but she wants to go wherever she feels like and she wants to come home at any time. She does not listen to me any more. I told her that she can have one boyfriend and he can come to visit her, but I cannot tolerate different boys coming to the house, especially if I am not at home. She is not interested in school.

My pillow is wet every night from my tears. Her father is disappointed in her and does not want to communicate with her. How can I handle the situation?

J.T.

Dear J.T.,

If you know that you have tried your best to raise your child to live an upright life and she has decided to go astray by getting involved in the wrong company and to engage in illicit sex, you should not blame yourself.

Her behaviour would indeed cause you to become depressed, but you should not blame yourself for the path that she has taken. She doesn't listen to you, and perhaps she looks at you as an old and silly woman. Perhaps one day she will come to her senses before having a child. Don't give up on her, just pray. The good Lord can turn her around.

Pastor