In this world of copycats - as in teenage suicides and mass shootings to pick two lighthearted examples - my question is, who’s going to lead in the dietary coercion stakes?

Will it be Chelsea Clinton, with her vegan faire and gluten free wedding cake at her very overpriced wedding?

Or will it be the “depravity” of competitive eating - in which competitors have increased their ability to scarf down hot dogs from 25 in ten minutes, ten years ago, to 68 in a recent record breaking bortz out at Coney Island according to Slate.com.

 Gloria Silver intrigues me. Fibromyalgia and on Oxycontin - so back like clockwork to get her script each month.

Then there’s strife in the homestead and the husband walks out - or is thrown out, I never quite gathered which. She’s in spitting bullets. “He only wants the Cialis for his girl friend”.

 From 1900 to 1964 discipline, motivation, achievement and comprehension among our kids increased every year. But 1964 was a sort of tipping point and since then crime, pregnancy, drug use and suicide all have increased together with divorce rates.

The antidote to this, needed to be an effective adult are, 3 perceptions and 4 skills according to the program ‘Developing Capable Young People’ (DCYP). The perceptions are:

• I am capable
• I contribute in a meaningful and significant way
• I have power or influence over my own life

The skills are

• Understanding your own feelings
• Communication skills - to interact/negotiate with others
• Ability to adapt and be functional in systems
• Judgment                                                                                                                                                         

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