"Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing." —Bill Cosby

Yup, school's out. You know what that means. The kids are home for the summer. Not just the ones still suffering from teen-angst and hormones, but the ones suffering from the transition from the college dorm back to the homestead (Does "when you live in my house, you live under my rules" sound familiar?)


And what better than to turn on that screen with fifty gazillion channels to ease the tension... especially when you end up watching the comic-relief of MTV's primetime hit, "The Osbornes." After all, just like those "ideal" TV families of years-past, this is four people we can relate with: mom and dad can see where Ozzy and 'Queen Mother' Sharon Osborne is coming from when they lay down the law. Meanwhile, the younger half can see eye-to-eye with Kelly and Jack (ok, so at least for the college-aged, they can reminisce on when they acted like that... at least a few times while growing up).


For example: curfews, a subject that both Ozborne kids aren't fond of, but as you can hear in Kelly's voice, they're still learning responsibility: "I understand it's really selfish of me not to listen to what she [mom] says, but sometimes when you're having fun and you're not in charge of what goes on." The experts agree - for the high school and college sons and daughters alike - compromise is the golden rule for parents to follow. Families struggling with the home-from-college transition should have a sit-down discussion at the onset of summer... Both sides should know what the other thinks, feels and wants. Comeon, it's practically Father's Day. So you're dad might not be a famous rockstar and you probably don't have cameras in your face for a TV show, but at least you can try to have a peaceful summer together.


Ask Ozzy and Sharon about having the 'sex talk' with their kids.


Learn more about "Hot issues on the homefront" from Thursday's issue of The Roanoke Times.