THE KID i is 10.1 guess it’s normal. About this age, they become social. * That's a terrifying p hrasé, isn’t it? “*Become social.”’ ‘Vike! _4..IUs where they start tc take on | .gome of the characteristics of their society, and when I say their socie- “ty, I mean THEIR society. It creeps ‘up on you, no matter ‘how seasoned you may be as a pérent, Oue day they’re still little , : kids and then next they’re well into “sul _ My little guy, Willie, has just recently stopped being a little guy and turned into a rather big little guy, almost us tall as his mother. A husky kid, he’s always been so mellow that it took your breath away. Here was this serene, thoughtful little kid whom I could take around with me into all sorts’ of nominally adult situations, and ke would quietly fit into a corner, and start reading a comic book. “What a laid-back kid you’ve got, Hunter,”” old cronies would say in amazement. _ Fora while, I even took him to film school, where he became the mascot of the Class of 88, taking part in some of our acting workshops and watching 2 lot of Bergman and Bertolucci films. This was of course before the kid became social. Pi try not to write just parental bathos. It’s always sad, saying farewell to your kids as they grow up. No matter how traumatic or weird cr wonderful the relation- ship may have been, it leaves you with a load of warm emotional goo-goo sloshing around inside you. I mean, what else is life about if 72 -~'t loving your kids or your folks? - The change in Willie — whose friends call him Will, by the way, no more of this ‘‘Willie” stuff — began, I would say, theday he | phoned home crying sc much that I couldn't understand the message HANDICAPPED PARKING | VEHICLE {D RE QUIRED ’ Fee OS ROTH AEST wancoumr® re. a new siage: the dreaded teens and on the answering machine when ! got in a little later. I roared over to the school, only to learn that my husky young son was-:in terror of ‘another kid “‘and his gang’’ beating him up. : . His tormentor was about half my son’s size, Les always sad, saying farewell to” your kids as they grow up. No matter how traumatic or weird or wonderful the relationship may have been, it leaves you with a load of warm emotional goo- goo. sloshing around inside you.”’ | ’ This was mellowness run amok. Willie was being terrorized by a twirp who had totally psyched him out. So we had to have this serious father-son talk about violence. It’s where the father explains that violence is sometimes okay, even necessary, despite all that stuff about not hitting your sister. Nobody much wants to face this, but the world, even Canada, is still a dangerous place. . Schoolgrounds are dangerous. Streets are dangerous Willlie’s answer was ; that he didn’t want to hurt anybody. Great. You’re gonna turn the other cheek? Gimme a break. I explained YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ‘SINCE 1969 Bos HUNTER about his Viking blood on his mother’s side and the nefarious ’ French on my side, and pointed out that sometimes you just have to flatten the other guy. You can’t give in to terrorism: He wasn’t very keen on the obligatory boxing lessons I gave . _ him, and he was‘even less keen on the coupie of basic karate kicks and blocks he was forced to learn. But later, he came home with a smile on his face. How'd it go? Well, he had found the perfect solution. He’d simply grabbed the other kid in a bear hug and fell on top of him. “] really flattened hiin, Dad!’’ Since then, he has been one of the “‘guys.”’ The guys hang around our place a lot, it seems. Right now, for instance, there are six or seven of them up in his bedroom with the ghetto-blaster going. What does a father do now? A 10-year vacation in the tropics looks pretty good. Too bad the space program is going to be set up in in Montreal. I could kave gone in- to training as an astronaut. Pve had teenage kids before. it’s not as though I don’t know what is coming. This is just a taste. /. half a dozen boys: One ghetto-blaster. From a writing point of view, one afternoon down the tubes... Ah, well, there's the plus side. Teenagers are so... Teenagers are S0...S0... Interesting? . No. That’s too strong a word. Rebellious? That's too dignified. Maybe I shouldn’t try to put a label on it. There is a lost period in everyone’s life, a chasm stretching from childhood to adulthood, called youth, during which one is geacrally of somewhat limited usefulness in terms of one’s philo- sophical contribution to the storehouse of human knowledge, | shall we say? He listens to Michael Jackson. My son! Help! e@ CAS pensions rise this month FEDERAL OLD Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement and Spouse’s Allowance benefits will be increased in April to keep them in line with the cost of iiving, Minister of National Health and Welfare Perrin Beatty announced recently. The ‘iniversal Old Age Security pension (OAS), paid to people 65 and older, will rise to $325.87 (from $323.28) a month in April, May and June. _ The maximum Guaranteed In- come Supplement (GIS) -will in- crease to $387.26 (from $384.19) for a single person and for a mar- Tied person whose spouse does not Teceive an Old Age Security pen- sion or a Spouse’s Allowance. The maximum Guaranteed In- ‘come Supplement will increase to $252.23 (from $250.23) for each ied also sion and for a married person whose spouse receives a Spouse’s Allowance. The maximum Spouse’s Allow- ance (SPA) — paid to low-income people between 60 and 64 who are married to GIS recipients — will increase to $578.10 (from $573.51). The maximum Widowed Spouse’s Allowance (WSPA), paid only to low-income widowed per- sons aged 60 to 64 who reside in Canada and meet the basic resi- dence requirements, will increase to $638.24 (from $633.17). © The benefit amounts for GIS, ‘SPA and WSPA vary according to the recipient’s income during the previous year. Applications for the therefore be resubmitted cach year. These must be returned by March 31 to avoid any interruption in benefits. Where applications are received and approved after the end of March, benefits will be paid after the applications have been pro- J.W. Inkster. & Co. SPA and WSPA must cessed. Payment will be retroactive to April. . BRAKE MUFFLER | You'll Know! The Price Before We Start We give estimates - and explanations © of all work we.do - before we start. . _ Open House at the. B.C. Cancer | Research Centre 601 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver In recent years there"have been a number of remarkable devel- opments in the understanding of cancer, in diagnosis and im- proved treatment. As a recog- nized member of the inter- national cancer research community, the British Columbia Cancer _ Research Centre pale is leading the way in many of these initiatives. On April 8th, 1989; between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. you are invited.to- meet the scientists who are responsible for this research and to learn about the progress which is being. _made. Admission is free.