how old would you allow your children to date?

[oneinamillieon]

ds is 14 and the girl he likes is 13. i dont personally have much of a problem and he doesn't find it serious, thoughts??

bump

Thoughts on what? Sounds perfectly normal to me.

how would you stop them? I don’t think it’s something you can “allow”

Not up to you. You could true enforce whatever but they'll just get sneaky.

Go out to cinema, cafe, park, walks, come to your house for tea all good at that age. Let them in his bedroom with door shut, allow them to go away together, hanging out late at night, not appropriate. Make sure he knows about consent, sexting, pregnancy myths (yes it can happen first time, standing up, ...), contraception, etc just in case - but emphasise that sex is illegal at their ages and not something to rush into and not to feel pressurised, but to just enjoy getting to know her.

I'm basing my response on my teenage years plus what I know about the pressure on teens now, but luckily we've got to 16+ in this house without any hint of a relationship (helped by both being at single sex schools) so have not actually had to deal with it myself!

thanks a lot, i'll talk to him later today

Went on my first date aged 13. It was very chaste 😀

Actually didn't work out because of course we were too young, then got back together 17-19.

You don't 'allow' it, it's their choice when/if they date. You might be able to provide guidance if it looks like the relationship is unhealthy or whatever, but it's absolutely normal to date at that age.