Eight fights not worth having with your children

1. It's not worth fighting with your kids about what clothes they choose to wear, unless your daughter's heading off to civvies day in thong underwear and low-rise jeans or your boy's adorning himself in Nazi regalia.

2. It's not worth fighting with your kids about what they're reading, unless they're not reading at all.

3. It's not worth fighting with your kids about the fights they're having with each other, unless the weapons of choice are knives, guns or Chris Rock-style foul-mouthed monologues.

4. It's not worth fighting with your kids about who they are friends with, unless their friends spend lots of time in your garage giggling and attaching wires to things.

5. It's not worth fighting with your kids about what music they listen to, unless hearing Lil' Kim's intimate sex practices echo over your neighbourhood really bothers you, which it should.

6. It's not worth fighting with your kids about their homework or school projects, unless you decide that enough is enough - teachers are not, like, so cool because they never, ever, hand out homework.

7. It's not worth fighting with your kids about what extramural activities they do, unless their main idea of sport is nicking a few smokes from the local café without being arrested.

8. It's not worth fighting with your kids about what they eat or don't eat, unless you've forgotten that you're actually the one buying white bread, six packs of jam doughnuts and fizzy cool drinks.

Ancer is a Johannesburg-based psychologist