Replies

7. Next-Day Grumpies (they stay up too late and make a mess)
6. Developmental Readiness (can't be expected to abide by somebody else’s “house rules”).
5. Awkward Social Situations (strange families may not share your ideas on anything or have older teens in the home)
4. Academic Performance (too many late night weekend pizza parties will affect your kid's weekday performance)
3. Mature Media and Activities (Letting your kid spend the night away means giving up control of what she's doing, eating and watching)
2. Experimentation ( drug and alcohol use among teens is on the rise and many kids try their first drink before age 14. “Generally, nothing constructive happens with a group of adolescents at 3 a.m.,” says Utay.)
1. Inappropriate Contact ( be sure to talk to your child about inappropriate touching, with peers and adults)
bonus - Your Call (don't be afraid to make an unpopular decision)

A bit too late for some of these concerns what with (A) the “legalize it” movement to encourage the repeal of all laws on all substances. Having age discriminatory laws is just going to create an underground economy (which already exists for those using drugs, meaning that legalization won't end trafficking). (B) Planned Parenthood's “just say yes” branch of sex education lobbying (SIECUS) and the schools rejection of the concept of abstinence (it's sex negative, don't you know). (C) Network television's total end of the notion of a “standards and practices” department to reject jokes about oral sex, menstruation, diarrhea, prostitution, etc. in the family hour (all of those references could be found in a single episode of Two And A Half Men).

“Nothing good happens at 3 am”

Rofl. I’m pretty sure it was about 3 am when the weird noises in “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” kicked in and brought the wrath of disoriented parents down upon the 4 of us. Still funny after all these years, worth the yelling, made us the stellar citizens we are today! :-/

11:00 mark - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVe-rZBcm4

Generally, nothing constructive happens with a group of adolescents at 3 a.m.,” says Utay.)

Well, that depends upon who they are. When we were cute little teens, we read ghost stories out loud. dramatizing every syllable. Scared ourselves, we did. And we laughed like crazy about it. Big fun and memorable.