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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Would you let them stay in the same room?

182 replies

mears · 15/04/2006 18:08

My DS who is 16 yrs wants to have a moviethon (watch films all night) with his girlfriend who is 15. He asked if she could have a sleepover and I said yes as long as they slept in separate rooms. He said that spoiled the moviethon aspect and frankly he is really hurt because he thinks I don't trust him.

I said he needed to find out what her parents thought. They are OK with them being in the same room with different beds.

I have taled to his girlfriend and they really are so hurt that we even suggested that they should not be 'allowed' to stay in separate beds in the same room. 'Don't you trust us?' is their response.

I don't trust nature wanting to take over but they really are level headed. It is so sad that they think DH and I think so little of them, which rteally is not the case.

What do you lot think?

OP posts:
mears · 16/04/2006 10:44

Well he came home last night and didn't broach the subject again. Will need to tell him that it is not going to happen. Like the stitching pants to the vest idea Grin

OP posts:
Janh · 16/04/2006 10:47

I got my final teenager yesterday (DS2 turned 13) and I'm very happy with mine too, hunker - it's a gradual process you know Grin and they have their own charms. On and off...

Glad he took it on the chin, mears. We all know that they can get up to all sorts of things in all sorts of places but we don't have to agree to take responsibility for it happening under our own roofs.

spacedonkey · 16/04/2006 10:48

Happy birthday for yesterday to your final teen Jan Grin

Janh · 16/04/2006 10:49

Aw, thank you, SD - when do you get yours, he's not far behind mine, is he?

Janh · 16/04/2006 10:50

(Oh sorry, just see you said Sept Blush!)

spacedonkey · 16/04/2006 10:51

He hasn't hit the Kevin hanging arms and grunting stage yet ...

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 16/04/2006 10:54

I've got two teens too and one who will be come October....love'em. Troubling times thoughWink. I've just got to the point with mine where I want them to get to 18 without any unplanned pregnancies, arrests or major injuries.

Mears - no advice - think you're doing OK by the sounds of it - loads of sympathy.

mears · 16/04/2006 10:57

That's exactly it JanH. I don't want the responsibility of condoning it by allowing room sharing therefore acknowledging the risk of what might happen.

My friend says though, that she would rather face up to the fact it will happen anyway, therefore let them be safe in the house.

I think though, by doing that you remove the 'get out clause' if they both are unsure. At least one of them might say 'we are not allowed' and not lose face. Friend thinks that will make them associate sex with feeling guilty and there is nothing wrong with experimentation as long as contaception has been taken care of. Remember her son is 17 yrs sleeping with girlfriend over 16.

Arrggghh.....

19 yr old DS1 asked if his girlfriend could stay overnight and I said no because I did not want them having sex 'under my roof'. They had only gone out for a couple of months and I don't think she was the right one. But he knew what he was wanting to do.

DS2 was insisting it was only a moviethon. He thinks I need to 'grow up'

OP posts:
daisy1999 · 16/04/2006 11:02

They WILL have sex if they share a room, so if you allow it you have to assume it will happen.

colditz · 16/04/2006 11:07

Yes, i thought my mother need to 'grow up' 10 years ago.

The facts are, if you let them sleep in the same room, in the same bed, you could be called to account in a court of law to explain why you encouraged your son to sleep with an underaged girl.

It's highly unlikely, but it could happen, and for that very reason my brother's GF isn't allowed to stay in the same room. She isn't 16 yet. My mum doesn't want to risk going to court.

why should you risk all that hassle just so your son can have a Moviethon? He can have a moviethon at her house if her parents don't mind, then it's them who will be held responsible, not you!

Janh · 16/04/2006 11:13

And another thing...!

(This just occurred to me.) It's the school holidays. If they have to have a moviethon, why can't it be all day with the curtains drawn?

mears · 16/04/2006 11:14

Ah but Colditz - they would be in separate beds he assures me Wink

OP posts:
spacedonkey · 16/04/2006 11:15

Mears you raise a really good point there (about the "get out clause"). It's a right moral dilemma and no mistake!

colditz · 16/04/2006 11:21

With forcefields? And no pyjama'd 'goodnight cuddle'?

Your 16 year old might well be totally innocent, but at 15 I would have been onto my boyfriend like a trapdoor spider given the opportunity! LOL

colditz · 16/04/2006 11:22

And you would never have guessed it, I was a very good girl who dressed nicely and did my homework.

JoolsToo · 16/04/2006 11:26

you know, this subject would not be up for debate in our house! Call me old fashioned (I don't see what's wrong with that anyway!). We bemoan the fact that kids grow up too quickly these days, there is pressure all around for them to do so, leg waxes at nine etc but now as parents are we really saying it is ok for two young teenagers with raging hormones to share a bedroom for the night?

As a parent you're supposed to be an old fuddy duddy who isn't with the programme. Your job is to teach what is right and what is wrong, instil moral codes into your young - they may listen, they may not but imho it's your duty to say that this is not acceptable.

I'm sure you have had to say 'No' on many other less important issues so I don't see why this is so difficult.

(sorry if I sound crabby but if you could hear me saying it, I'm not saying it in a crabby way iykwim - waffle, waffle ....)

edam · 16/04/2006 11:27

Stand firm Mears. Like the point about the get-out clause. Actually, if my boyfriend's parents had allowed us to sleep in the same room, I'd have been really freaked out. Yuck at the idea of doing it with your parents only a few feet away! I was 20 the first time I took boyf to stay at my dad's house and couldn't have sex even then (boyf now dh).

edam · 16/04/2006 11:28

There's just something hideously embarrassing about your parents saying 'OK, go ahead then'. Eurggh!

DominiConnor · 16/04/2006 14:34

All is not lost here.
For the little I know, Mears' DS is tacitly asking for help and support, rather more than the average teenager might. That to me indicates a better than expected relationship. I'd seize the opportunity to both strengthen this bond, and move from governor to mentor, ie someone who helps, not exercise power for slefish ends.

"My house - my rules".
Love it.
When we married I owned the house, and am considerably larger and stronger than my wife.
Anyone care to consider me as having the right to such power ?

Janh I don't have a daughter, if I did I would take a much harder line. She would be left under no doubt that her sex life was expected to happen in our house under appropriate degrees of protection.

Having large scary dad a few metres away might be quite comforting. And I'd see it as a filter for lesser boys who wouldn't be able to cope with that :)

The girls I've dated over the years mostly did not regard the "help" from their parents very highly.
Is that not a representative sample ?

I must say I don't yet quite understand the position that teenagers are untrustworthy, devious etc.
Once you start laying down rules based upon your power, merely to reduce squeamishness over sex, you've left behind parental care, and in my ethical framework, you don't have any duty to be truthful to the opposition if they're acting for their good not yours.
Note the word "opposition", at 16, the word "enemy" would have fitted my models rather better.

If I treated any adult with the disrespect shown by "my house, my rules", I'd expect them to use guile and cunning to outwit me, frankly at 16 my boys will probably be bigger than me, certainly smarter. If my sons did not respond to such tyrranny with a sophisticated web of disinformation, covert action and at least a bit of nose to nose hostility, I personally would regard myself as a failed faither.

Also it doesn't affect the outcome. They're sleeping together, or not, you don't get a say. Your options are solely in the domains of risk mitigation and bloody minded interference.

Like all parents I have fears for my kids. In my ideal world, they'd emerge from their PhDs in their mid 20s with perhaps one relationship. That's not going to happen.

Actually the education thing is worth looking at as well. Sex is not very time consuming, even when donw well. A boy who is not wasting time chasing after girls, may spend more time on school work, and of course the risks from sex are far easier to manage than those from drugs, motorbikes, drink etc which 16 yo boys do because they can't get sex.
Also because you can choose to be an ally in his "social" life, your entreaties to work well at school will be taken more seriously (sometimes).

Statements about a "good life" by someone who is seen as screwing up your sex life at 16 are less likely to be taken as the advice of a friend, and risk being seen as yet another ego based interference with their lives.

colditz · 16/04/2006 14:46

Yes, DC, but besides all that, the girl is 15, she is not legal.

JoolsToo · 16/04/2006 14:53

"someone who helps, not exercise power for slefish ends."

what selfish ends would those be?

rumtumtigger · 16/04/2006 15:14

Am utterly shocked that this girl's parents would let her stay at her boyfriend's house at all.

I think if you agree to this then you are rubber stamping your seal of approval onto a sexual relationship between them both.

cataloguequeen · 16/04/2006 15:33

He is not an adult he's 16, funny you can have sex and have a child!!!but not a glass of wine??Grin

DominiConnor · 16/04/2006 15:34

Yes Colditz, I saw the bit about the girl being 15.
I don't equate morality with legality, you may, and I respect that position. I would say that in several countries the law is very different about teenagers sleeping together.
As a 45 year old bloke, if I were to have sex with her, then that would be in my view very different, and the police would quite rightly give me a bad time over it. My understanding is that if a girl is 15 and the boy is not much older the police don't usually treat this as a matter for them to get involved unless some degree of coercion is suspected.
But yes I would make DS aware of all risks, both biological and legal. That's why I want to be part of the processm where I can mitigate the problems.

Conceivably (but not probably), I might make a deal in the precise cirumstances given.
In return for them wating until she was 16, we'd give them the house for the weekend whilst we went off. The girl might well value it being a more relaxed and special time, and with DS would be in a position to dictate terms like contraception.
Also the girl would be making a more considered decision, and feel happier about the whole thing.

Although a good deal all round, 16 yo's have a rather different view of time, and might well not clear.

In judging an act in terms of morality, to me I ask "am I really making a difference here ?"
Or is it because I am uncomfortable, and use my power over others to conform to my comfort ?

A key assumption in my position is that teenagers who want to have sex will have sex, so any attempt to interfere is for my own benefit not theirs.

Apparently 1/3 of girls choose to start having sex before 16, and most without any support from their parents. I see that as bad, as my view of parental duty is to support in good times as well as difficult ones. That includes embarassing conversations. If I as a dad refused to change nappies because they are dirty, I think I'd be met with scorn around here. to me the same applies to sex and teenagers. Talking sex to someone who may well be larger than you, but is not your partner, and who only last week was reading his first book, can be daunting, but fear of embarassment does not strike me as a superior motivation.

cataloguequeen · 16/04/2006 15:37

Funny you equate your relationship with your dw/p and your home together.. to your relationship with your son?