So if you really want to know who is taking all these tranquillizers in Malta, I suggest that you phone up the office of statistics or the Health Department as they should have a record of who is taking them and – perhaps even more interesting for you: who prescribed them in the first place.

Rest assure that you will not find my name on that record.

[Daphne – Why would I do that? I have absolutely no interest in knowing who takes Valium; all that interests me is the statistics. As somebody who has been out of the workforce for rather a long time (sorry to rub it in), the distinction might be hard for you to understand: that it’s the numbers which interest a journalist whereas the identity of the takers might interest a housewife to have further scope for bitching. Incidentally, I know exactly how they are prescribed and distributed. I worked in the pharmaceuticals distribution business for some years. My point here is that doctors should not prescribe such very dangerous drugs so casually, which they do.]

Maybe Erin Tanti should have done that before doing the Dingli Cliffs challenge with those horrible underpants on.

People who are suicidal don’t strip off before take-off.

I could have also written an essay about what it means to have teenagers in the house and for those, who think that the “terrible two” are a challenge….wait for the real thing of…

– the first love
– the first sex
– the first joint
– the first time drunk
– the first time being seriously humiliated
– the first “necknomination”
– the first selfie
– the first skinnie dipping in the dark
– the first petty crime (perhaps)
– all those “cool” dares
– the process of wanting to let go of the parents’ hand
– the extremes of hormonal ups and downs, as in plenty of extreme darks and sparkling whites with no fifty shades of grey in between
– the first suicidal thought (most of them do have them)
– the fact that at that age the opinions of friends are ranking higher than those of the parents….and so on – and so on!

At times teenage years seem to be endless, tiring, mind-boggling, frustrating, and they are certainly quite a task, as the challenge for a parent is to detect and adjust to each and every circumstance fast. It needs a lot of understanding, love, trust and time to be there for them – no matter what time of the day or night, without raising your voice, painful or humiliating words or threats, as they do not work.

The above is what I jokingly called “popping in the Valium”, as the best way to surf through these years is to keep cool and stay calm.

[Daphne – I raised three teenagers, all boys, none of them shy and retiring types, and all born within the space of 2.5 years, which means that at any one time they were 13, 14 and 15, then 14, 15 and 16, then 15, 16, and 17, then 16, 17 and 18 – so quite frankly, there is little anyone can teach me about the subject. As for teenage girls, I grew up in a house with four of them and went to a school with 300 of them, so there again, nothing much to learn.

You don’t joke about Valium. It’s not funny. The full extent of the damage done by Valium is horrendous. Most of it is brain and nerve damage, which shows up after years, and Valium addiction is as dangerous and debilitating as heroin addiction, only legal and less expensive. Exactly how do you communicate messages to your teenagers about the dangers of drugs when you’re popping one of the most dangerous and addictive drugs in existence yourself? A bit like all those parents puffing away like chimneys and then telling their children not to smoke.]

Should you, however, still not be able to agree with me on the above – now, that I explained it in more details – then you must be either living in complete denial or else are/were to busy with your own career not to notice these things.

As for my personal parental skills, I can assure you that I took my job as a full-time mother very serious and my children thanked me countless times for not following up my career, but being there for them and plenty of their friends 24/7.

[Daphne – I’ve taken note of the bitchy resentment and your wish to feel better than me by believing I was too busy with my career to take note of my children. The facts are to the contrary, and even though I say it myself, they have turned out remarkably well, certainly way above average. I put it down to the fact that I worked and went to university full-time when they were already around, so they had a good example in terms of work ethic. I have noticed that the children of stay-at-home mothers tend to be lazier – this is a generalisation, but there is a noticeable trend. Now that I have bitched you back (you certainly asked for it), may I just add that Valium is associated with stay-at-home mothers, and for good reason. Women with proper distractions rarely develop anxiety disorders.]

Daphne – that valium part was a joke!!! Don’t take things soooo serious!

[Daphne – Was it? I doubt it. The amount of diazepam and anti-depressants sold in Malta is remarkably high. Somebody is popping all those pills.]

Maybe you should take another dive in Antarctica.

I have just passed that teenage stage with my two boys and my God it was a tough time with one drama queen on one and a super-hero on the other side.
Let us all be honest, as a dis-nerved parent of teenagers you wake up in the morning, asking yourself who is getting the input of Valium today: them or you!?!
Thank God they grow out of it before your chemist is getting seriously worried about the amount of Valium you order over the counter.

So why trying to interpret something into a school essay of a self-dramatizing teenager? Perhaps this guy simply disliked that kind of homework and therefore wanted to take the Mickey out of his teacher….who knows?!?

[Daphne – With a drug addict for a mother, your sons haven’t got much chance. Valium is more dangerous than heroin. It just happens to be legal, that’s all. You are mad to take it. If this comment is real, and you are truly an adult with two teenage children, I suggest you read it back again and work out what you sound like: somebody on drugs.]

Why don’t you ask Erin what ‘he actually was pretending to be’?

If there’s anyone who needs peace, it’s Lisa Maria’s family not Erin Tanti.

You seen to be ‘the detached from reality’ type who can’t understand what losing a daughter in very tragic circumstances, means.

Expect to make more enemies with that sort of comment. The literal-minded don’t understand irony, and the non-literal minded mind flippancy.

Adrian Buckle couldn’t recognise art if it got up and spat at him – which, incidentally, it probably would after what he does to it.

But then again, it is an eternal tribute to the PN that they put absolutely no restraint on anyone expressing him/herself in the performing arts. There are many people concerned with the performing arts who were quite happy to bite the hand that fed them . . . the result? Well, Gensna for starters.

On a deeper level, the artistic freedom afforded to people like Tanti was very much a part of the psychological degradation that lead him to – when it’s proven – commit murder.

I wonder if Buckle might just be beginning to feel the tiniest twinge of conscience now, when it’s too late? But I’m not holding my breath.