New Age Parenting

Steve - guilty as charged. Thanks for the kind words; the boy came home saying you had the "coolest basement ever!" Not exactly sure what was down there - there are some things a mother doesn't want to know!

Nothing down there except some guitars and rock and roll memorabilia...Stuff that kids like us enjoy Seriously though...Those are two of the nicest, most polite young men I've met in recent memory. Kudos to the lucky parents.

Hell, come to think about it, I would put "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" up against "Harry Potter" anyday..

Sorry for hijacking your thread Steve...back to parenting..

I'll "see" your Killer Tomatoes and "raise" you Andy Warhol's Frankenstien

There isn't a snowball's chance in Hell that my son, currently 14, would be allowed to attend a midnight movie without supervision, let alone on a school night. Just my .02 cents

That pretty much sums it all up. And since hers and mine are best buds, make it a double.

Was Amy's son the pleasant young man who came to the BBQ with your son ? Good kids...both of 'em.

Yes, Sir and thank you for complimenting both of them. Manners don't happen by accident.

I notice most of the comments here that favor a more "they need to grow up anyway " (for lack of a better term) attitude seem to have sons. I wonder if they would feel the same way if they were talking about a 13 year old daughter.

I understand they taste just like chicken.

Wait, isn't this the thread about cats?



Never mind.

I sure he meant khicken.

I notice most of the comments here that favor a more "they need to grow up anyway " (for lack of a better term) attitude seem to have sons. I wonder if they would feel the same way if they were talking about a 13 year old daughter.

I was visiting an old high school buddy last night...a fellow who years ago helped me write the book on teenage misbehavior ...by chance his 16 y.o. daughter (who is a poster child for all things you would want your child to be) was out on her first date. We were still sitting around the kitchen table enjoying a couple of frosty adult beverages when she came home...at 10pm...on a Friday night. She sat down to talk to us for a few minutes and I thought to ask her what she thought of the scenario I described in the O.P. The short version of her reply was that it was the it was totally inappropriate for children that young to be out that late on a school night and also totally inappropriate for their parents to let them.

Im with Dan on this one. Steve,things are so much different now. I think going to the movies with a large group of friends for a "special" showing of a very popular movie is just fine.

OK...so just for the sake of conversation lets imagine that a group of young adolescents (13-14) are attending said movie (sitting in a theatre at 3 a.m. on a school night, no direct supervision, no theatre security, etc, etc) and something untoward or tragic WERE to occur...whatta ya think the judge would have to say to those parents ?

Stay off my lawn.....

Oh yeah by the way Steve....I dont think anybody is still taking their steady to the malt shop and dancing the Lindy anymore either.

Dude,

You got me confused with someone else...I'm from that Hippies swayin' around the campfire generation. You know...that whole Peace Love and Dope thing.

Someone mentioned earlier that kids are a great deal more savvy than we were at the same age. I'll agree with that. They have certainly seen a great deal more and dealt with a great deal more than we (I) had to at the same age. At the same time, predators have gotten more sophisticated and cunning. One thing that hasn't changed are the hormone levels of adolescents. Steve and I both have daughters , perhaps that's why we are more reluctant to give them the same free range as some would with their sons. I'm just saying that the risks are different.

I can tell you what my parents' reply to "Can I go see (insert movie here) at Midnight on a school day, with no adult supervision?" as a younger teen, would have been. Unfortunately, I can't repeat it, here. My baby is due in January, and boy or girl, my reply will be the same as theirs was!

Hell, come to think about it, I would put "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" up against "Harry Potter" anyday..

Sorry for hijacking your thread Steve...back to parenting..

Alan,

No need to apologize...The way I see it every thread on here takes on a life of it's own and they all eventually digress to beer, pizza or crappy servers.

[Robin Garr]

they all eventually digress to beer, pizza or crappy servers.

Or White Castles!

Which reminds me! If we don't let our kids go out on their own, how in the heck are they ever going to learn how good a drunken White Castle run is at 3 a.m.? Surely this rite of passage won't be denied our young'uns.

Which reminds me! If we don't let our kids go out on their own, how in the heck are they ever going to learn how good a drunken White Castle run is at 3 a.m.? Surely this rite of passage won't be denied our young'uns.

These are best done on a summer night while still underage...otherwise it's not nearly as fun! Though I'd still have to make a run for Krystals if I were 18 again