AIBU to not let my 17 year old daughter go to the cinema at this time?

At her age I was pregnant with my first child! Im sure she will be fine in just a few short months she will be 18!

Yabu. I have an 18 year old daughter and a year ago I’d have let her do this. You have to let them go at some point.
The only thing I wouldn’t have allowed (and still don’t!) is getting home by herself that late but as you’re picking her up that’s not an issue.

If you are picking her up get there to meet her as she comes out of the cinema so she is not hanging around. And some 17 year olds are more streetwise than others, you are invincible at that age.

If there were those considerations that would have been mentioned and would be a key part of the OP. As they weren’t mentioned I’d have to assume a typical 17 year old, and therefore the OP is being hugely overprotective given her daughter could be away from home at uni within a year!

It was the popcorn that made you pregnant 🤣!

Honestly you’re lucky this is the first time this has come up! When I was 17 I was at parties & getting into nightclubs underage 😂 my poor parents. Is she just turned 17 (going into 6th form) or about to start last year of secondary?

OP were you genuinely contemplating 'not allowing' your dd to meet her friend and use her booked tickets for the first night of Spiderman? Causing her incredible humiliation with her friend. loss of tickets etc?

I am guessing you experience a lot of stress and worry and are not used to being out much yourself.

It is really important that you don't pass anxieties on to your dd.

It is a difficult time, watching our teens spread their wings, but we shouldn't keep them cooped up to protect our maternal worrying! We have to be brave.

Saying goodbye to my 14 year old as he set off on a 2 day Scout camp walking over Beachy Head...packing him off to Reading Festival after GCSEs at 16, then the interrailing across West and Eastern Europe at 17....all nerve wracking for me, all safely and sensibly accomplished.

Giving them problem solving skills is important. and the confidence to look out for themselves, learn to make safe decisions, engage common sense etc. It doesn't happen by staying at home after tea time and only travelling by Mum Taxi.

Did she expect you to come and collect her or did she ask? Could she stay at her friend’s?

At her age I was a mother.

she will be fine eating popcorn and enjoying the movie with her friend

You really need to loosen the apron strings! She’s 17 and going to the cinema. By that age I was well and truly in my clubbing era.

Wait til you find out the Cinema is a ruse for drinking a litre of cider in a field and smoking a joint

FAFS

Jesus Christ OP

Are you trying to put the OP into a tailspin by suggesting a perfectly normal way to get home?

I used to go clubbing at 17!! She is going to be in the movie until it finishes at which point she will walk outside and you will collect her. You are being way too overprotective! I get it, I am a mum myself but relax a little or you will really struggle over the next few years.

I would let her go, and pick her up. It's only a local cinema, not downtown LA.

But she isn't going to be "out" is she? Presumably you'll meet her after the showing ends?

Very over dramatic and over protective.

Mine (same generation) was inter-railing across Europe at 17, doubtless staying out a lot later than 12.

If you have a bus / train service, she will be fine.

It is normal for people to be out at that time of night.

But if you insist on picking her up, I am sure it will be over by 11.30, the ads and trailers are only 20mins.

Do you really need to bring a whole generation in to this? I’m sure there are millennials on this thread ( 🙋🏼‍♀️) that are saying this is overkill.

Erm within months she will be 18, legally an adult, possibly leaving home to go to university. Surely you should be supporting her to develop street sense, self confidence and basic life-skills?

Do you still take her to the toilet as well?

You’ll be tracking her next…

She’s 17 not 7, you are being ridiculous. I’ve just seen dozens of youngsters this age in Greece on their holidays without parents. It’s the cinema, be there to pick her up if you need to or sort out a taxi.

Yeah, being in a public building late at night with a group of friends and a whole crowd of other people isn’t exactly hazardous.

I you can't handle her going to the cinema in the early evening, HOW are you going to manage when she moves out?

If she's prepping to go to uni next year you REALLY need to let her have some freedom or she is going to struggle a lot more than her peers.

You are stifling her and could well cause her to be in a failure to launch situation in time.

As someone who spent my 18th birthday seeing the third Harry Potter movie when it opened at midnight, I say let her go to the movie! She’ll have fun with her friends.