'I get drunk with my daughter': Mum who parties with her 17-year-old says it's the only way to keep an eye on her

Ruth and Teri love going out on girls nights out together, getting dressed up to hit the local bars and clubs, chatting up boys and more often than not getting drunk on cocktails.
There's one difference though between these two women and your average girlie friends: Ruth and Teri are mother and daughter.
46-year old Ruth Davies, who is often mistaken for 17-year-old Teri's sister, says that partying together is the best way to keep an eye on her daughter.

Party pals: Ruth Davies says the best way to keep an eye on her daughter Teri is to be her drinking buddy

She says: 'Teri started drinking behind my back when she was 14 so I decided to take over and take responsibility for my daughter.

 

'I started to let her have a glass of wine with a meal and also at Christmas. Until she was 16 we mostly drank at home, one or two glasses of wine at special times, maybe if we were out and I had a bottle of wine.
'Now we go out together.
'When she is 18 she can do whatever she likes, but while she's in my care I want to be in control and I don't think she will be safe if she's drinking in secret behind my back.'
At just 17-years-old Teri isn't legally old enough to drink outside of the house, but she defends her mother's behaviour.
She says: 'We still do other normal things that parents do with their children, but we also go out and have fun and I think that's very important, especially at my age.

Strong bond: Teri has been drinking since she was 14 and says she drinks less now her mother goes out with her

Teri adds: 'I don't see anything wrong with it, mum isn't soft, she has always had rules.
'I used to drink a lot when I was younger but I don't drink excessively now.'
Journalist Liz Fraser disagrees with Ruth's parenting methods telling This Morning presenters Eamon Holmes and Ruth Langsford that she is in fact a bad role model for her daughter.
She told Ruth: 'I understand what you are trying to do and I think the motivation is good, but it's a reverse kind of logic.
'Rather than saying I need to teach you better things to do you are saying "Here's a bad thing which can lead to worse things" and then doing it with her instead of telling her that she shouldn't be drinking.

Reverse logic: Journalist Liz Fraser joins the debate on theThis Morning sofa and tells Ruth that she should be a mother not a friend to daughter Teri

'You should find other things to do together.
'You are teaching your daughter that the only point of drinking is to get tipsy or drunk.
'In this country parents are becoming their children's best friends - but you are her mother not her friend.
Ruth is unrepentant though and insists that as a single mother with many years experience she knows best.
She says: 'I have three children and five foster kids, Teri is the last one and I have behaved the same with all of them.