My son comes back home late

My 15-year-old son is a day scholar but of late he comes back from school rather late. He always blames it on the traffic but I am getting a little bit concerned. I know he is at the adolescent age but should I really have to worry or I am just being paranoid? - Evelyn, Kagugu Dear Evelyn,Thank you for raising this issue. It is a multi-faceted issue that you need to study very carefully. Is it him delaying to come home? Is it an issue of public transport or more work at school? These different reasons that one can think require an exhaustive approach. You could start by finding out the exact time that school closes by talking to his teachers. Then you can also spare a day and move from his school to home using public means to establish whether during the evening rush hour it is really not easy to find transport means back home on time. Since he is at the adolescent stage of his life, you may want to try and talk to him more regularly so that you keep a presence in his life. Many adolescents while trying to find a new identity are known to lock out their parents and keep a lot of things to themselves. All that aside, you should have some basic house rules that he should strive to abide by. It should be clear to him that arriving past a certain time is totally unacceptable. And each time he breaks that rule he should be able to provide a convincing answer. If he says he delayed at school then you should confirm from his teachers. Send your questions to