((((Hey Alikat! This one is truly from the heart))))))

I'm not going to throw a resume around b/c this really comes the heart, o.k? And no

When I worked as an advocate between teens (of all ages) & their parent(s). One thing, I remember something very clearly. It was a situation somewhat to what you have mentioned; the "teen" was a girl who was just about to turn 18 in a few months & she was a "runaway" b/c the girl had been watching her Mother slip away into a coma; The Father had a "female friend" who was "getting too friendly" in his daughter's opinion. It just so happens this situation was just around Xmas also.
The father/daughter came back in shortly after Xmas; but the situation had a little different twist. They seemed to be much closer, but the father still seems disturbed. When this type of conflict is observed we split them and talked to them separately. This was the bottom line when we compared notes:
FACT#1 -- The daughter, turning 18, was losing (lost) her mother; the mother is suppose to be the main role model at that age of the daughters life. Teens like to have the ideal "picture" of having their mother & father being together & happy. Any other female would be perceived as a threat to the daughters entire sense of concrete & secure feeling of "family". This is was obvious "immediate need" to the daughter AND w/ a good deal of time spent w/ the father during the Xmas season, the father felt guilty about abandoning his "close female friend" yet, an overwhelming need to "be there" for the daughter, especially at this time in both their lives.(The holidays/loss of mother/spouse)
FACT#2- After the holidays were over, the topic of the daughter turning 18 and moving out of the house. The daughter's attention would be turned inward to her own life and would leave the father alone; he expressed concern over this b/c he was afraid that "his former female friend"
might be angry/upset w/ him for just "dropping her in the middle of nowhere w/o much of an explanation." He, therefore had an immediate need for some future stability now.

CONCLUSION: When both father& daughter sat down together again w/ their individual lists of "needs" & shared them w/ each other, they could see them "with each others eyes" & the daughter gave him "permission"
and they could both be closer, yet letting each other grow & go in their own/but not disconnected.

Times may change continously; but the relationships bewteen parent & child remain (on a norm) "normal."

I hope something in this made sense to you....maybe it at least give you some kind of perspective of the overall situation?

(((((((((((((DAYZEE9)))))))))))))))))))))))))))