'Promise You Won't Freak Out'

By most accounts, Doris and Natalie Fuller have a typical mother-daughter relationship. It is respectful, caring, sometimes tense but generally amicable.

Doris would say that her 18-year-old daughter was a pretty good kid. But, as every parent of a teenager knows, there is that panicked moment when the adults discover being "pretty good" is not good enough.

"Promise You Won't Freak Out," is a tell-all book about the teenage years written by Natalie and Doris Fuller. On The Early Show with co-anchor Harry Smith, the two discussed their book, which touches on such subjects as children's safety and gaining trust.

"She's a great kid," says Doris Fuller about her daughter. "She's got good grades, got great friends. She's in athletics. She's doing everything right."

But the truth, her daughter admits, things weren't perfect.

"Every weekend, I was -- both nights -- I was getting drunk behind her back," says Natalie Fuller. "I was sneaking off to parties. I was driving places I shouldn't drive. I was breaking all the rules. Every single rule we had, I broke. She had no idea."

To avoid the deceit, Doris Fuller says she found the "no-fault insurance" practice useful.

Doris notes, when she found Natalie had lied to her, "I said, 'Tell me the truth and you won't get in trouble.'"

The practice, says Natalie, forced her to tell the truth, because she was already caught in a lie.

"There were consequences, but that kind of set the deal we kept," says Doris. "That if she would be truthful with me, at least I wouldn't 'freak out.'"

The two worked a deal so that the daughter could regain her freedom after punishment. It also allowed the child to regain her mother's trust.

"It was, like, all of a sudden, I was in prison," says Natalie about her time after being caught in a lie. "I wasn't allowed to do anything, and she was completely restrictive. But then I started to bargain with her a little bit. I told her 'If you give me more freedom, I'm going to be more trustworthy. If you lock me up, I'm going to start sneaking around again.'

"We started this deal where I would tell her what I wanted to do. I want to go this party and she would say, 'You have to be home by this time.'"

Doris says her main goal is to protect her daughter. And, the information Natalie shared with her mom allowed the two to trust each other again.

"I think she got the message that she could trust me and it would build trust in her," says Doris.