DEAR ABBY: My teenage daughters went to a birthday party for a friend. It was a slumber party, and on the spur of the moment, one of the girls suggested they play "strip poker." Abby, the host girl's mother not only allowed it, but actually joined the game! The mother is a single parent, and only females were present in the home.
The girls found the game great fun and plan on doing it in the future at slumber parties. I told them that I do not feel this was appropriate, but they reminded me that I have always told them there was no reason to be shy about their bodies with other girls, so I was stumped to explain why I disapprove. I am still not comfortable with the idea of such an activity. Please tell me what you think. -- APPALLED IN CARMICHAEL, CALIF.
DEAR APPALLED: I see no harm in a group of young women playing strip poker at an all-girl slumber party. However, for the host girl's mother to abdicate her role as a parent in an attempt to act like their contemporary was, in my opinion, a lapse of judgment. Tempting as it may have been for this single mother to try to be "one of the girls," she should have refrained because she's not one of the peers.