what time do your teenagers stay out untill at the weekend???

[smeeinachristmastreeinnit]

ive allowed ds2 out untill midnight tonight,but am having arguments with myself about if its too late or not!!!

i really hope mine doesn't start drinking.

southeast, that is my experience as well, problem is in the groups they are more exposed to different kids behaviours and showing off and of course there is always the kid who can stop out till "whenever he likes" . In my ds case this when I collected my son and gave his "friend" a lift, he asked to be dropped off at the local labour club where his mother was still drinking - this at about 10pm at night (hmm)

yes localgirl,he is very sensible and i know 100% that he wouldnt touch alcohol,he doesnt like it! hes like me,alcohol doesnt botehr him,whereas ds1 couldnt wait to get on the strongbow!!
i do worry about him but do trust him to be sensible,if a bit outrageous at times!

localgirl you are using the ( ) instead of [ ] thats why the and are not working!!!

smee, how old is ds1 and how did you cope with the strongbow thing?

ah yes can tell i'm not experienced

round here is rough.

in the summer it seemed so much easier

ds1 is 17 and tbh i didnt cope well with the whole strongbow thing!
ds1 and i have always had a very strained relationship, stems from me having PND when he was born and we never bonded,he is a typical teenage boy who wants to do all the things teenage boys do!
to an extent ive always let my boys experience things like alcohol with my consent as im well aware that without my consent they will still do it!
but i would always know if he was planning on drinking and i would do all i could to ensure he wouldnt go over the top which was sometimes succesful and sometimes not!
ds1 and ds2 are worlds apart in personality so i have differnet challenges with ds2!

smee - agree with the consent thing - thats where I am right now. Also doing it for the first time is so hard - hoping for more experience when i get there with ds2 - think am getting hang of this now

southeast - totally agree with the summer thing - its because it was light i think and everything seemed a bit less scary. Am texting mine in 15 mins to find out exact street position and I am going to collect. always on tenterhooks till hes back. it is just so mad out there on fridays . my dh went out for a bike ride recently and someone threw a stick at him - just randomly to try to knock him off he couldn't believe it. its all alchol related - it drives me mad! why can't they all just stay at home drinking and just upset their own lot!!

that's awful lg. my dp sometimes encounters it when he walks home at 9.30.

it is alcohol related. it's so cheap but there is nothing else for them to do is there?

son home now freezing cold.

southeast, sorry but lol at son home freezing cold. mine went out with no coat or hat and laughed in my face at suggestion of scarf so I hope when he comes home some bits of him are cold enough to drop off maybe then he'll stay in next week or come home earlier, either way I'm off to get him now, glad yours is home, smee, hope yours gets home ok on the 11.30 bus!

tottering off now to do taxi duty.....

i hate the late night mum's taxi cabbying.

he's demanded gloves now.

mine's back now gratifyingly cold and thinking of hats next time. still working on the scarf still hes back and thats it for tonight folks []

still not got the hang of these pesky smileys []

well he got home safe and sound and not too cold!!
he rang me at the times i asked him too so im thinking he may be mature enough to do this another time!

Hi all, just read this post with interest. As the parent of 3 teenagers I feel like they are second class citizens at times. No one likes them hanging around, yet what else is there for them. I think it is a bit easier to parent girls of this age, but really worry about boys hanging out, bored, on the streets. It's normal for them to want to socialise with their peers, yet nowhere to do it where parents can feel they are safe.
I have told mine that if ever they are in a situation they are uncomfortable with or scared, even if they have been drinking, they can phone me and I will come get them, no questions asked; friends say I am condoning drinking, but then again those friends have young children right now; all I want is to keep my dc safe.

I take DD to the pub & pick her up, even thought she's only 17 - I'd rather she & her friends went there than hung around the parks - it's warm, it's a nice pub & they can't afford to buy as much drink as they could if they were buying cheap stuff from Tesco's - and they don't smoke as much now that they have to go outside.

Totally agree with you rustybear, I would much rather my dd was in a pub with lots of people around rather than huddled in a corner on the streets swigging vodka. One is a socialable activity, the other a saddo way of carrying on. But when I expressed this view one night among some mothers of other teens they were horrified, and went on about how their children will not be in pubs until they are 18, I kept quiet about how I knew for a fact that their little darlings had been drunk out on the local green in recent times.

If parents of teens believe that their DCs will not go into a pub until they are 18 they must be deluded. Even I, who am ever so old, used to go to pubs regularly from the age of around 16 (and smoked). DS1, when in 6th Form, cleverly managed to get a job on Friday/Saturday evenings DJing in a bar - this meant that he probably actually drank less than his friends as he had to be sober to do the job! As Rusty says, at least in a pub they are indoors and they are relatively safe - much more so than if they are drinking in the park/on a street. Also, the cost of the drink is more expensive in a pub so that reduces the amount they can drink.