Kathy Reynes is a single parent with no close relatives living nearby. Thankfully, she has Barb Jubinville as a friend, the kind of friend every single parent should have.

"Barb is someone who has always supported me and my family," Reynes says. "I can count on her to be there when needed whether it's simply to lend an ear or to take care of our dog when we go out of town. But last spring, she went above and beyond the call of duty at a very tough time in my life."

At that time, Reynes was having a struggle with her son. Suddenly he had turned from a polite young man to an angry, rude, disrespectful child -- a behavior that continued over several months.

Upset by the frequent outbursts of anger and disrespect, Reynes frequently discussed the problem with her friend, Barb, and got a sympathetic ear. But Barb never witnessed any of this behavior. Any time they were together, all she saw was the well behaved young man she had always known -- until the two families traveled to a lacrosse tournament in Victoria that is.

After one of the games, Reynes asked her son to take their dog back to the car but he didn't want to. He thought his sister should do it. The mother/son debate escalated from there.

Initially it seemed like a relatively normal verbal struggle between a parent and child but then, Jubinville watched in shock as this young boy approached his mom, took the lead from her hand, stared her right in the eye, threw it on the ground and skated away defiantly.

"It was a scene of willful disrespect," Jubinville says. "I had never seen him behave like that and he and my son have played together since kindergarten. I saw first hand what Kathy had been talking about."

Back home, a few days later, Jubinville called her friend Kathy and asked to speak to her son.

The conversation went something like this:

"Do you think I would let my child spend time with a friend who does drugs?"

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because your son might start doing drugs," was the nervous reply.

"Do you think I would let my son hang out with someone who smokes?"

"No. I guess not."

"Well I saw and heard how you treated your Mom on the weekend. If I see that kind of behavior again, I won't allow you to continue to play with my son. I don't want him coming home thinking it is OK to talk to me that way."

That was pretty much all that was said. It was a brief conversation. " I really didn't do much," Jubinville says.

That little piece may not have been much but it was the right thing at the right time in a long relationship with the Reynes family. It had a dramatic affect.

"It was amazing," Reynes says. "My son sat staring at the phone for a long time after he hung up and within days, I saw a dramatic change.

"This past fall and winter, I have once again had a son who respects me and the other people in our household. He is that same loving, respectful, appreciative person that I love dearly.

"I want to thank Barb for doing what people in small communities used to do - help each other in the raising of kids.

"It truly does take an entire community to raise a child."