Being the teen gathering house - rules/boundaries!

[Badgerstriper]

I have a 14yo DS who is well behaved but typical of kids his age. Loves hanging out with his friends, has hobbies and doesn’t cause us much worry or hassle. His friend group - a great, respectful and friendly/polite bunch of kids. My house seems to have become the gathering place of choice and I’m happy enough about this as it means they’re not wandering the streets or hanging out in the park (especially in cold wet weather).

This does however mean that my house is noisier than I’d like and on days like today I’d really appreciate a bit of quiet to enjoy a TV show with my DD (11yo). They’re not being obnoxious or sweary and they’re all in DS bedroom but it’s inevitable that 6 x 14yo are going to make a noise!

Id love to continue to let my DS have his friends round but wondered if anyone had any advice on reasonable rules I could impose. I’m thinking initially of saying max number of friends at one time but fewer friends doesn’t necessarily mean less noise as not all kids’ volume are equal IYKWIM 😂

Any tips from anyone else going through similar?

I'd say just take all the positives and be pleased and proud they wantt o come to yours.

Thanks - it’s how I want to be and how I’ll probably play it. My DH is naturally a stricter parent and is saying we should say only one friend at a time (the rule his parents had for him). I know teenagers roam in packs though so it’s probably welcome a group of them or none at all! I’m sure I’ll miss the noise once DS has gone to uni/work/whatever…

I think like you said, it's better than them hanging around in the streets. The noise of 6 teenagers would do my head in 🤣but I think id suck it up for now.

It's a great advantage because you get to see who he's hanging round with and get to know them.

You can see who they are with and what they are doing and at times possibly turn a blind eye as you'd rather they were in your house than in a park.

He big is your garden?

Can you get a large shed they can hang out in?!

Only half joking!

Otherwise I think you just have to say they need to go out for an hour as too noisy if they don't tone it down. It's great they want to come round and great ds has lots of friends but it is your house too.