When you first look into the eyes of your newborn child, and sense the complete trust and unconditional love in them, you never consider that, someday, this same sweet child will stare blankly back into your eyes and ask you to drop him off a block away from school so that his friends won't see him with you.

I experienced one of these moments a few weeks ago. We had an exciting family outing planned when my son received a last-minute invitation to go snow boarding with a friend. I asked him which he would prefer to do, thinking he would choose to come with us. He gave me the infamous, teenage, blank stare, as if to say, "How can you even ask such a stupid question?" Within fifteen minutes he was gone. Fortunately, he broke his finger while snow boarding, so I felt somewhat vindicated.

My situation is not unique. No parent can possibly compete with a teenager's peers for importance or attention. Someday, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman will invite their children to accompany them to an A-list post-Oscar party and the kids will instead opt to stay home and play Nintendo with the pimply-faced neighbor boy.

A few months ago I had the opportunity to meet former Utah Senator Jake Garn. Senator Garn has a teenage daughter who was learning about airplanes in a high school class. One evening, she had a question about flying and her father had the audacity to reply. She, of course, immediately dismissed his answer because it contradicted what her teacher had told her. 

This prompted to Mrs. Garn to say, "Your father is just trying to help. He's been a pilot for the Navy, spent 16 years in the Air National Guard, and flown to outer space and back in the Space Shuttle. I think you can trust him when he tells you something about aviation."

For some reason, the teenage brain equates "parent" with "stupidity". I have no doubt that if Einstein's children were struggling with their science homework, they would never even remotely consider the possibility of asking dad for help.

In an effort to determine exactly whom teenagers consider reliable sources of information, I conducted an informal survey. I asked this question: Suppose you are on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and you have made it to the final question. You can call one person to help you with the answer. Who would you call?

The Hierarchy of Reliable Sources of Information for a Typical Teenager

1. Best Friend
2. Other High School Friends
3. Casual Acquaintances from School
4. Complete Strangers from School
5. Neve Campbell
6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
7. Ricky Martin
8. Shaquille O'Neal
9. Bass player for N'Sync
10. School teachers
11. Nobel prize laureates
12. Mom and Dad

Brad Phillips welcomes any comments or stories from his readers. Email the author.