During the summer, I thought that my son may be getting too serious with his girlfriend. They are both Juniors in High School. About one month ago, they broke it off - only two weeks before Homecoming. I was feeling very sorry for his ex-girlfriend and missed having her around. Well, they are back together again. She was here doing homework tonight. It was great to see them together again. I believe that they are good friends to one another and are comfortable in each other's presence. Do any of you have teens that are in the dating scene? How do you handle your own curiosity without being viewed as too nosey?

I love this post! Yes, I too have teens who are involved in the dating scene. According to them I ask too many questions about their lives. The oldest one and his friends actually limit me to three questions when they walk through the door. I think ahead and make them good ones. If I hit the friends up with questions after I am finished with my son, they reply..."No Mrs. B...only three". It has become a joke.

That aside, what works best for me is taking them out for a meal. This should one on one, and sometimes I include one of their good friends! The siblings can't be in the picture. You just have to be willing to pay for all the food! During the meal we just do some catching up. We actually converse like adults! It's fun! I have found they are much more willing to talk during times like this. For some reason, conversations don't always work on the home-front. Why is that?

I thought boomersis' post was funny because I had been on the receiving end of the being missed by family. This one guy I dated was the oldest of four boys and his mom really liked having another girl in the house. Once we stopped dating, I would see her all over the place and she would tell me that I should talk to him and that we needed to work things out.

The really cute thing about it was his brother, who was two at the time, was so upset about me not coming to the house anymore. When I would see him at school games he would always whine to me about coming over. It was very depressing for me too. I didn't get anymore portraits of myself made out of a paper plates and macaroni noodles!

In answer to Dot's question. I think conversations on the home front don't work for two big reasons. One is the distractions of the home. While you might think your solely concentrating on asking your child questions, you are also probably getting ready to make dinner, going out the door to pick up another kid, etc... Going out with just them puts the focus on them and their concerns. The other reason is home is your turf. Especially when your a teen, home is not where you want to be, you want to be out. Home is where the parents are. Once they walk through the door, their bodies are already on the defensive.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[ November 13, 2002, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Candice Johnson ]