Curfews

A curfew is a time you have to stay out until.

No, a curfew is the time you have to be home. Right, but no teen in her right mind would come home early. Not before curfew.

Let’s say Ken’s weekend curfew is midnight. On Friday night he goes to an early movie and comes straight home arriving at 10 pm. He’s had a busy week and he’s tired. Then on Saturday he goes to a party. He doesn’t like the kids who are there. He sees that there’s a lot of booze being consumed. So again he comes home early.

His parents are thrilled. They like that. They like him being in early.

So the next weekend they let him know that they’re looking forward to seeing him home early again.
Now he has to start all over to negotiate a midnight curfew. He sure wishes he’d stayed out late the previous weekend. He wishes he’d stayed out until midnight no matter what.

As a parent, I prefer dealing with each evening case by case. Talk to your kid. Where is he going to be?

Who with? How is he getting home?

If he’s visiting at a friend’s house in the neighbourhood and being driven home be the father, an old family friend that’s totally different from being in a downtown nightclub and coming home on the bus or being at a beach party.

Talk to him about his plans. Ask him when he’s going to be home. Be reasonable according to the circumstances.

It works way better that way, believe me.