If parenting toddlers seems like hard work, teenagers seem in fact to be much harder, writes Dita De Boni.

The blonde in a tight, low-cut evening dress slid on to a barstool next to me and began the chat: Where are you from? How long are you here? Where are you staying?"

Manukau's liquor licensing agency is drawing up a list of school ball dates, and will send inspectors to follow buses to after-ball parties.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says children are being treated like dogs, as figures show serious cases of abuse against babies have leapt by two-thirds in just two years.

A party consultant is telling high school students how they can get away with taking booze to after-ball parties.

Public concern over "apero geants", or giant open-air drinks parties, is growing after the horrific death of a student in France.

Our neediest teenagers are often being educated in "Third World" conditions without trained teachers, textbooks or standard school services.

Today's teens are telling the same fibs their parents told to cover their boozing, but are drinking high-potency "lolly" drinks with the sole aim of getting "trashed".

McDonald's - home of the golden arches - shows commercialism and caring can co-exist, writes Guy Adams.

Auckland City Council increasing its focus on enforcing a by-law which makes begging illegal.

nzherald.co.nz readers slam NZ's drinking culture during a heated debate on youth drinking, after the death of schoolboy James Webster.

ALAC recommends that parents hold off on serving alcohol to young people for as long as they can.

The King's College mother who has challenged the Govt to act on alcohol issues says it is wrong to isolate the problem on the purchase age.

A large North Island iwi has adopted a bold strategy that will lead to a ban on bringing tobacco to events it controls.

What's in a name? Shelley Bridgeman discovers that society can be slow on the uptake when it comes to the patronymic.