Amy weighed in at 6 pounds and 10 oz and had a mop of black hair, she was the apple of her grand-mother’s eye.

She was always bosterious and strong willed but very loving and knew when she had over stepped the mark.

She became 11 and was anxious about going to secondary school.  The day dawned and off to secondary school she went.  From that day on her mother saw a drastic change in her behaviour.

She would give glanzing stares of disapproval, answer back more often than usual, ty to get out of the house wearing casual clothers rather than school uniform and her mother decided she needed to keep a closer eye on her.

At an open day at the school her mother asked the teacher if she was behaving herself at school and the teacher had replied that she was no worse than anyone else.  He mother was not impressed and had a heart to heart with Amy and thought that would do the trick.

As the months passed Amy decided she would play truant from school.  She would go in the front entrance of the school, dropped off by her mother, go in and get her mark and leave the school immediately by the side entrance.

The school phoned her mother to advise that she was playing truant and it was up to her mother to find her for her own safety.

This went on for weeks, her mother would speak to her and drop her off and the school entrance and within half an hour of her mother arriving at her office, she would receive a telephone call to say that Amy had come to school to get her mark for the day but had left the premises by 9.30.  Each day her mother would wonder around looking for Amy, terrified of what she was getting up to and obviously for her safety.

One evening her mother was quite sharp with Amy about the constant truancy and advised that if Amy did not go to school, her parents could end up being prosecuted.  This comment seemed to unphrase Amy so her mother advised her that if the truancy happened again, she would call the police.

The next day Amy played truant from school again and her mother was frantic that she was out of control and as she had threatened her with the police, she had to take advise.

She telephone the police station and spoke to a women PC who was extremely approachable and listened to the tale about this young lady of 13 who played truancy all the time after attending school for her mark each day.

The police officer asked what time Amy would be home and said she would visit the house around 3.30 that afternoon.

The mother had a wonderful chat with the women PC and then Amy arrived home.  She was horrified that there was a police car outside her house and on entering the house shouted verbal abuse at her mother.  The PC tried to speak to Amy and advised her that she was only there because her mother cared about her so much.  The PC told Amy to appologise to her mother for her outburst but Amy would not and kept the abuse up by telling the mother that she hated her.

The Police Officer advised Amy that she was going with her and took Amy off the the Police Station where all her jewerly etc was taken away from her and eventually because of her behaviour she was placed in a cell.

The mother was devestated as you can imagine and kept wondering why this situation had got so badly out of hand.  She phoned the police station trying to speak to Amy but Amy was adimant that she was not going to speak to her mother.

That night Amy ended up in a Childrens home close by because she would not speak to her mother and obviously the police could not keep her locked up.

The next morning the mother was at work and the telephone rang.  The little voice at the end of the phone said “hello mum, its me, Im sorry, will you come to pick me up”

From that day on Amy went to school, had a completely different outlook on life and probably realised how lucky she was.  The mother and daughter relationship grew and to this day they are the very best of friends.