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CHRISTIAN<br />
17, MELBOURNE<br />
Christian’s parents<br />
describe him as an<br />
“anarchist.”<br />
His worried mum Anne says, “He smokes, he<br />
drinks, he’s dropped out of school, he’s got<br />
no formal qualifications at all, he’s dabbled<br />
in drugs, he’s dabbled in graffiti and criminal<br />
actions. It’s enough to turn you grey overnight.<br />
“He can charm anyone into thinking he’s<br />
innocent and a nice boy, but underneath he<br />
is an anarchist. He sees anyone in a position<br />
of authority as a killjoy, as someone to stop<br />
his pleasure.”<br />
Christian’s parents first noticed a change in<br />
his behaviour around the age of 14. “It was<br />
like Jekyll and Hyde,” Anne says. “It wasn’t<br />
quite overnight, but it was pretty close to<br />
it. So we got the shock of our lives and we<br />
weren’t prepared.”<br />
Christian was a good student, but when he<br />
hit high school, he started hanging out with a<br />
different crowd.<br />
“Year 9 was a disaster,” his mum says. “He<br />
wagged 82 days! That’s more than a term.”<br />
Eventually, Christian gave up on school<br />
completely and dropped out in Year 11.<br />
Christian says, “I just hate school so much.<br />
I hate being restricted. I hate the fact that<br />
everyone is the same, you’re all wearing the<br />
same shit, you don’t get to do your own thing,<br />
express yourself.”<br />
These days Christian doesn’t like to get up<br />
before 11am and then he doesn’t do much at<br />
all except recover from the night before.<br />
“I go hardcore with the drinking. My mates<br />
too, because they drink so much I have to<br />
keep up,” Christian says. “It becomes a<br />
big game, seeing who can drink the most<br />
and we all end up on our arses on the floor,<br />
completely and utterly smashed. One night I<br />
got so drunk I fell off the roof.”<br />
The lowest point for Anne and Tim was<br />
reporting Christian to the police as a missing<br />
person. “Many times I thought that Christian<br />
was dead,” says Anne. “Many times I thought<br />
I’d get a call to go and identify his body.”<br />
Christian’s dad Tim is just as concerned.<br />
“He’s just put his pursuit of pleasure in front<br />
of everything. He’s always challenging<br />
our authority.”<br />
WORLD’S STRICTEST PARENTS
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