A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens

playing the game of curfew

“please can I? everybody else is”

Here's the Problem

Remember when your teens were young children and their bedtime battle cry of “Just five more minutes pleeese?” was a nightly ritual? Fast-forward 10 years and the battle cry is still there, but now it's curfew: “Just one more hour pleeese?”

A parent shared this story with me. Her 16-year-old daughter was off to a party. The agreed-upon curfew was 11:15 p.m. The ride home was prearranged, and a call to the home of the party had confirmed that parents would be home supervising. All was well in the land. Mom and Dad, confident that the plan for the night was in place, ...