So last night my 16 year old daughter went out on her first date where her boyfriend actually drove her with no adults.
My first thought is man I am getting old!! My second thought was he better drive 5 under the damn speed limit with my child in his truck. My third thought was she looks so beautiful, I hope they have fun!
My husband and I don't get out together much, due to our lives being about family and quality time with our daughter who will be out on her own in 2 years. So we decided to take the opportunity to go out since our daughter was out on a date.
Now I am a pretty lenient parent for the most part. I have safety rules and other then that I let my daughter make her own choices as she needs to experience mistakes early to not make huge ones that she cant fix later in life. This date was no exception. They had to stay local and be within cell phone service at all times. Now her boyfriend is a great guy. Pretty responsible and very trust worthy. So there aren't to many worries with them being out together alone other then an accident or a break down. So 15 minutes after they left I texted him and let him know that they couldn't go to the main town, that was to far, that they needed to stay in cell phone service, and check in every hour and a half, but other then that I wanted her home by midnight. I thought I was being pretty nice for it being her first time going out alone with him.
This was at 6:00pm...... My husband and I finished dinner and drove home. By this time it is 7:45 and I haven't heard from the lovebirds...... So I figure I will let them go about their date and deal with the telling them they don't get to go out alone for awhile when they return... 7:50 I get a text from her boyfriend apologizing that he just got the text message because he was driving....
Ok So let me stop here for a minute....
If I texted you 15 minutes after you left and the diner that you are going to is less then 10 minutes away, then how were you driving when I texted you??!! And how did it take you almost 2 hours to respond when the #1 rule was that you needed to be in service? (obviously in service means I can get a hold of you!)
Ok, back to the story at hand. After he texted me almost 2 hours later to apologize, I responded with ' I think it is time for my daughter to head home' and left it at that. He replied with 'on our way.' My husband and I are still driving and I am hoping he drops her off before I get home so that way I don't have to be the mad parent at this point. lol But of course the next text that comes is him asking if it is alright for him to stay or if he has to leave. I don't care if they still hang out I just at this point cant trust them out driving around.. So I say he can stay.
As my husband and I drive into the drive way we now have a huge problem!!! Neither of us want to be the parent that has to go in and deal with the teenagers that didn't follow instructions. HA! Me: I always have to deal with it. It is your turn.. Husband: Just tell them they can hang out but it will be awhile before they go out alone again.. Me: You tell them that... Husband: its easy just walk in and tell them. Me: I don't want to parent today. Husband: me either!!!
We finally get out of the rig and head into the house. Here stands my daughters boyfriend at the door. That's right a 6'7 teenager standing at the door waiting for his lecture for not following rules. ( Did I mention he is a good kid?) So we walk past him and go into the kitchen. You could tell both were waiting for the reaction of them not doing what they were suppose to. You could cut the tension with a knife.. Finally he breaks the silence and says I am really sorry I am kicking myself in the butt right now. So my husband turns to him and says' you can stay until midnight, but you two going out alone wont happen for awhile.'. Her boyfriend turns and says I understand and I am very sorry. The poor guy looks like he wants to cry at this point. So I chirp in and let him know its ok. But for future reference he should know that when I say in cell service I mean that I can get a hold of the two of them! ha.
Have you ever just thought being a parent sucks because you have to make them follow rules that you yourself made??!!! This is a constant thing in my house. My daughter for a 16 year old is a pretty good kid. But there are days where I just want to say I am not mom! Dad you take this one!! :) And most of the time he does!!
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