Most parents are able to sense the loss of power when their child becomes peer-oriented, even if they don’t recognize it for what it is. Such a child’s attention is harder to command, his deference decreases, the parent’s authority is eroded. When specifically asked, the parents of each of the three children in our case examples were able to identify when their power to parent began to wane. That erosion of natural authority is first noted by parents as simply a niggling feeling that something has gone wrong.
