Sarah Palin - Parenting Lessons

Most of us know Sarah Palin from her delusional aims at the American Vice-Presidency, if not for the strange names of her children. If you live in the States, you'll also have the misfortune of seeing her and her clan plastered all over every form of media, ad nauseam.

Possibly the most interesting story has been daughter Bristol, who had a baby at 17, fell out with Levi Johnson, the baby daddy, and then lived the whole spat out in the public eye. (To be fair to Bristol, she behaved with more decorum than her mother and ex who lost no time in slagging each other off on live TV.)

It was hard to tell whether Palin the elder was fighting for her child like the mamma bear she claims to be, or was just really pissed off that Levi (by now, posing semi-nude wherever he could) was shaming the family. If that's possible. She addressed Johnson's continued attacks on the CBS Early Show with this zinger - "Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies. Those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention." Ouch.

It went on and on, then everything went quiet for a while. Till this week when US Weekly magazine announced the engagement of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson. Hello? What? Apparently they were engaged two weeks before announcing it publicly, and Mother Palin wasn't told beforehand. Bristol says it's "intimidating and crazy" waiting for her mother's reaction. I'll bet. It was bad enough you got yerself pregnant when she was preaching abstinence girl, but now she has to make nice (at least in public) with a kid she positively loathes.

At least Johnson recognises the deep doo-doo he now finds himself in, and has recanted his former ways. "So to the Palin family in general and to Sarah Palin in particular, please accept my regrets and forgive my youthful indiscretion...I hope one day to restore your trust."

And what, parents, can we learn from Sarah Palin this time?

Well, that would be - Whatever your reasons, don't publicly attack the people who are sleeping with, or who have ever slept with, your children. It will come back to haunt you.

For now, Palin is taking the high road, if a little frostily. "Bristol believes in redemption and forgiveness to a degree most of us struggle to put in practice in our daily lives."

Oooooh. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall at that wedding?

The Good Old Days.