Advice needed on teen issue

mctex · Guru

RE: Advice needed on teen issue

mctex · Guru

Lizzy wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.
i really think the issue always has more to do with the parents than the child....I was just a really trusting person and therefore, I trusted Andrew (more than I should have, obviously). and it was really hard to alter my personality to adjust for a teen ;) now, however, I am a little jaded and will probably have Ivy on lockdown ;)

You kind of remind me of my mom in that respect. She is a very trusting person, and she was also a very good child. (Were you?) I was an expert negotiator, and very convincing. It was a recipe for near disaster. ;)

That said, one of my IRL BFFs had ridiculously strict parents -- to the point that one time she and 3 of her friends got busted doing something or other, and while all 3 of the other parents grounded their daughters, they decided not to tell my friend's parents because they'd totally overreact. So she just totally threw caution to the wind and did what she wanted, and just boldfaced lied her ass off to her parents -- they didn't really give her much choice.

I think there's a balance between respecting and fostering our kiddos independence and keeping them safe. A really freaking hard one. Seriously -- I am already anxious about all of this. Blah.

Tiffany · Senior Member

I have no idea how my mom believed everything I said back in high school either! I always swore her I was gonna spend the night at a certain friends house but always went to a party instead and many times I have found myself thinking about it nowadays and think... wow... nothing happened to me. I'm still in one piece. I had a few really bad weekend parties but I will spare the details... too much experimenting and we ended up driving and all that. Crazy, I tell you. I feel the same way as you guys.... I went thru party central so I know what to expect but the scary thing is its just the kids are partying even younger these days. I can't imagine. But Im all for letting my kid "experience" but not TOO much if you know what I mean. I just pray they turn out like I did. All in one piece 10 years later. I'm going to try and be open to answering any questions they have about drugs/alcohol too. Oh gee, can't you tell I'm so excited to go through this stage.....NOT!

Alicia · Senior Member

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.

My DS was invited to a party and I told his friend that I needed to phone his parents. Gave me excuse for not doing that so I said I would stop by and ask his parents about it. Stephen was uninvited to the party. My DS knew better and so did his friends but they still tried.

mctex · Guru

Alicia wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.
My DS was invited to a party and I told his friend that I needed to phone his parents. Gave me excuse for not doing that so I said I would stop by and ask his parents about it. Stephen was uninvited to the party. My DS knew better and so did his friends but they still tried.

Good for you for pushing. I feel like they might get angry at the time, but ultimately are more content, because boundaries make them feel safe. (Or this is what I read/am told, anyway.)

Was he really uninvited, or did he just say that he was so that you wouldn't ask the parents?

I think it's fairly normal for kids to try this stuff at least once. Part of it normal boundary testing, and part of it peer pressure.

I need some xanax just thinking about this, LOL.

Juni · Guru

Here's the dilemma (I really have to force myself to spell that right) - if his two options are you drive him to the party or he just spends the night at his friends he will most likely just say forget it (about the party) and go to the party anyway and pretend like he spent the night at his friends. I really think 1 a.m. is far too late for a freshman in high school. Knowing about the party I would probably say no to spending the night at the friends because if he is a block away he will go.

I would probably compromise and say that you will pick him up from the party but that he can have a midnight curfew just this once.

Lizzy · Guru

mctex wrote:

Lizzy wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.
i really think the issue always has more to do with the parents than the child....I was just a really trusting person and therefore, I trusted Andrew (more than I should have, obviously). and it was really hard to alter my personality to adjust for a teen ;) now, however, I am a little jaded and will probably have Ivy on lockdown ;)

You kind of remind me of my mom in that respect. She is a very trusting person, and she was also a very good child. (Were you?) I was an expert negotiator, and very convincing. It was a recipe for near disaster. ;)
That said, one of my IRL BFFs had ridiculously strict parents -- to the point that one time she and 3 of her friends got busted doing something or other, and while all 3 of the other parents grounded their daughters, they decided not to tell my friend's parents because they'd totally overreact. So she just totally threw caution to the wind and did what she wanted, and just boldfaced lied her ass off to her parents -- they didn't really give her much choice.
I think there's a balance between respecting and fostering our kiddos independence and keeping them safe. A really freaking hard one. Seriously -- I am already anxious about all of this. Blah.

yeah...i don't know the solution either.

to answer your question, I don't know if i would consider myself a "good" child...I had such a different upbringing than most. My mom was an acoholic and we did not have curfews or much of any rules. we pretty much did what we wanted and had to really make grown-up decisions pretty early on. for example, my brother started working a full-time job at 15 to support our family. he took on the role of a parent. my sister did all the cooking and cleaning. I did all the laundry (at the laundromat by myself at 9 years old) and the grocery shopping (can you imagine sending your 10 year old to the grocery store to do all the shopping for the entire month? (we were on foodstamps).

there was no real 'structure" to our lives by my mom. we had to get ourselves ready for school and out the door....although, for most of my school years, I never went. my mom was so "out of it" that I would actually sneak back into the house and she never knew. I missed 75 days of school one year...surprising, the school never called (well..we never had a phone, but they never sent letters either). I would also "skip" school and hang out at the park (this is a park in St. Louis) and I was only 10 years old!!! All day, by myself at the park...lol I am so thankful that nothing happened to me.

it was a very, very different life. when i was a teen, of course, i got into trouble b/c i had no one looking out for me. my mom was not able to so i was on my own. i only had one or two years of what i would consider a "wild" time and then once I had Andrew, I never again put myself in any kind of dangerous situation.

:bag sorry for the novel!! it is just hard to convey a different life because mine was so different than the "norm" kwim?

mctex · Guru

Lizzy wrote:

mctex wrote:

Lizzy wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.
i really think the issue always has more to do with the parents than the child....I was just a really trusting person and therefore, I trusted Andrew (more than I should have, obviously). and it was really hard to alter my personality to adjust for a teen ;) now, however, I am a little jaded and will probably have Ivy on lockdown ;)

You kind of remind me of my mom in that respect. She is a very trusting person, and she was also a very good child. (Were you?) I was an expert negotiator, and very convincing. It was a recipe for near disaster. ;)
That said, one of my IRL BFFs had ridiculously strict parents -- to the point that one time she and 3 of her friends got busted doing something or other, and while all 3 of the other parents grounded their daughters, they decided not to tell my friend's parents because they'd totally overreact. So she just totally threw caution to the wind and did what she wanted, and just boldfaced lied her ass off to her parents -- they didn't really give her much choice.
I think there's a balance between respecting and fostering our kiddos independence and keeping them safe. A really freaking hard one. Seriously -- I am already anxious about all of this. Blah.

yeah...i don't know the solution either.

to answer your question, I don't know if i would consider myself a "good" child...I had such a different upbringing than most. My mom was an acoholic and we did not have curfews or much of any rules. we pretty much did what we wanted and had to really make grown-up decisions pretty early on. for example, my brother started working a full-time job at 15 to support our family. he took on the role of a parent. my sister did all the cooking and cleaning. I did all the laundry (at the laundromat by myself at 9 years old) and the grocery shopping (can you imagine sending your 10 year old to the grocery store to do all the shopping for the entire month? (we were on foodstamps).

there was no real 'structure" to our lives by my mom. we had to get ourselves ready for school and out the door....although, for most of my school years, I never went. my mom was so "out of it" that I would actually sneak back into the house and she never knew. I missed 75 days of school one year...surprising, the school never called (well..we never had a phone, but they never sent letters either). I would also "skip" school and hang out at the park (this is a park in St. Louis) and I was only 10 years old!!! All day, by myself at the park...lol I am so thankful that nothing happened to me.

it was a very, very different life. when i was a teen, of course, i got into trouble b/c i had no one looking out for me. my mom was not able to so i was on my own. i only had one or two years of what i would consider a "wild" time and then once I had Andrew, I never again put myself in any kind of dangerous situation.

:bag sorry for the novel!! it is just hard to convey a different life because mine was so different than the "norm" kwim?

I really appreciate the novel. I'm not sure I knew all of that, Liz -- so if you've shared it before, I apologize for my crap memory.

What a different course you've set for your children -- and what great things you've done for yourself.

I'm also stricken by the thought that despite all of this, I know you had a wonderful love for your mother. I can only imagine how proud she must have been of you (and understandably so).

apies · Guru

mctex wrote:

Lizzy wrote:

mctex wrote:

Lizzy wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.
i really think the issue always has more to do with the parents than the child....I was just a really trusting person and therefore, I trusted Andrew (more than I should have, obviously). and it was really hard to alter my personality to adjust for a teen ;) now, however, I am a little jaded and will probably have Ivy on lockdown ;)

You kind of remind me of my mom in that respect. She is a very trusting person, and she was also a very good child. (Were you?) I was an expert negotiator, and very convincing. It was a recipe for near disaster. ;)
That said, one of my IRL BFFs had ridiculously strict parents -- to the point that one time she and 3 of her friends got busted doing something or other, and while all 3 of the other parents grounded their daughters, they decided not to tell my friend's parents because they'd totally overreact. So she just totally threw caution to the wind and did what she wanted, and just boldfaced lied her ass off to her parents -- they didn't really give her much choice.
I think there's a balance between respecting and fostering our kiddos independence and keeping them safe. A really freaking hard one. Seriously -- I am already anxious about all of this. Blah.

yeah...i don't know the solution either.

to answer your question, I don't know if i would consider myself a "good" child...I had such a different upbringing than most. My mom was an acoholic and we did not have curfews or much of any rules. we pretty much did what we wanted and had to really make grown-up decisions pretty early on. for example, my brother started working a full-time job at 15 to support our family. he took on the role of a parent. my sister did all the cooking and cleaning. I did all the laundry (at the laundromat by myself at 9 years old) and the grocery shopping (can you imagine sending your 10 year old to the grocery store to do all the shopping for the entire month? (we were on foodstamps).

there was no real 'structure" to our lives by my mom. we had to get ourselves ready for school and out the door....although, for most of my school years, I never went. my mom was so "out of it" that I would actually sneak back into the house and she never knew. I missed 75 days of school one year...surprising, the school never called (well..we never had a phone, but they never sent letters either). I would also "skip" school and hang out at the park (this is a park in St. Louis) and I was only 10 years old!!! All day, by myself at the park...lol I am so thankful that nothing happened to me.

it was a very, very different life. when i was a teen, of course, i got into trouble b/c i had no one looking out for me. my mom was not able to so i was on my own. i only had one or two years of what i would consider a "wild" time and then once I had Andrew, I never again put myself in any kind of dangerous situation.

:bag sorry for the novel!! it is just hard to convey a different life because mine was so different than the "norm" kwim?

I really appreciate the novel. I'm not sure I knew all of that, Liz -- so if you've shared it before, I apologize for my crap memory.
What a different course you've set for your children -- and what great things you've done for yourself.
I'm also stricken by the thought that despite all of this, I know you had a wonderful love for your mother. I can only imagine how proud she must have been of you (and understandably so).

ditto!

Alicia · Senior Member

mctex wrote:

Alicia wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.

My DS was invited to a party and I told his friend that I needed to phone his parents. Gave me excuse for not doing that so I said I would stop by and ask his parents about it. Stephen was uninvited to the party. My DS knew better and so did his friends but they still tried.

Good for you for pushing. I feel like they might get angry at the time, but ultimately are more content, because boundaries make them feel safe. (Or this is what I read/am told, anyway.)

Was he really uninvited, or did he just say that he was so that you wouldn't ask the parents?

I think it's fairly normal for kids to try this stuff at least once. Part of it normal boundary testing, and part of it peer pressure.

I need some xanax just thinking about this, LOL.

Not sure. My DS knows I'm an easy going mom but I have my limits. Not spending the night at friends on school nights is one him and his friends keep trying to push. I guess they think I will eventually cave in which I wont.

kdrew · Guru

mctex wrote:

kdrew wrote:

mctex wrote:

sappy wrote:

This weekend is the turn about dance. jake is going with a girl he calls a friend. he has another girl he likes and who likes him but they aren't "going out yet because it wouldn't be nice to their turn about dates".

The plan is to go to dinner then the dance - which is from 7-10pm.

Jake's normal weekend curfew is 11pm.

He wants me to allow him to go to a party at a girl's house until 1am - at 1am he is planning to walk a block or so to his other friend's house (a guy) to spend the night.

My gut says NO. I want to tell him no. this seems totally excessive for a FRESHMAN valentine dance.

I don't know the girl's parents, Jake says there are going to be 50 people there (?) ... just seems like way too much for a kid who will be 15 next week.

thoughts?

I'm with Kristi. I'd say maybe, but I'd need to talk to these parents who are allowing a party where they will allegedly let kids walk off at 1 am.

If I were the parents hosting that party, I would want to talk to a parent of every single child who was going to be in my home, to make sure the stories synced up.

I'd also want to talk to the parents of where he'd be spending the night to make sure they were really expecting them at 1 am.

I'd be sure to tell him that it's not him you don't trust, but that it's new and kind of scary for you, and you're just trying to meet your responsibility of keeping him safe.

I'll be curious to see what happens when you start asking him for phone numbers to make calls.

Ugh, I am not looking forward to those years.
Me either!

The bad news is that I know what goes on because I was party central (.25 to Sara) in high school.

The good news is, I was party central in high school so I'll know what to watch out for.
Number one mistake my parents made, trusting me on the fact the "the parents are going to be there, I swear." LMAO

I was party central, too. (I love it, well worth the .25)

Like senior year, I had a 3 am curfew. Seriously, 3 am??? It started because I had a summer job before senior year where I ran the frozen foods department in a grocery store (nope, not kidding) and so I'd work a 5 pm - 12 pm shift, and then would go out with my coworkers to Denny's or something afterward.

Except Denny's was often the grocery store parking lot, where we'd sit and drink beer purchased by the random 21 year old that worked with all the 16 year olds.

And then there was the epic night where about 5 of us went back to my boyfriend's house (he had a pool; he was the oldest of 8 kids, all of whom along with their parents were sleeping in the house) and drank beer and swam all night. Unfortunately, we all passed out before his mother came down and woke us up the next morning. The random 21 year old had found the good sense to leave, but the rest of us were surrounded by 41 empty beer cans. My boyfriend told his mother the 21 year old had drank all 41 beers. It was AWESOME.

I'll add that is the most benign of many tales I could tell... since it's an open forum. ;)
What are you going to do? How much freedom are you going to give? I look back and am seriously thankful I'm still alive... but I'm also glad I didn't totally lose my shit when I went to college. I went to a Jesuit college (Creighton) my freshman year, where there were a large number of sheltered all-girls school girls. Our first weekend there, the freshman daughter of the vice principal of one of the local all-girls schools passed out in the Pike house butt naked on a staircase. <snicker>
So what do we do???

This is what I want to avoid too.

I know a few people that were the same way, sheltered in high school and went balls out freshman year in college.

One guy had to drop out it was so bad.

I went to a Catholic high school too.

sappy · Guru

in case you're all interested - here's what we decided on.

we told jake he could go to the party and he could stay until midnight BUT we were coming to pick him up then - no sleepover.

low and behold, an hour later he decided )through much pouting) that he wasn't going to the party after all because "it's not worth it".

interesting ....no?

Juni · Guru

sappy wrote:

in case you're all interested - here's what we decided on.

we told jake he could go to the party and he could stay until midnight BUT we were coming to pick him up then - no sleepover.

low and behold, an hour later he decided )through much pouting) that he wasn't going to the party after all because "it's not worth it".

interesting ....no?

Ha! I think you guys did the right thing. I also think there was a very good reason for your gut feeling. :D

apies · Guru

sappy wrote:

in case you're all interested - here's what we decided on.

we told jake he could go to the party and he could stay until midnight BUT we were coming to pick him up then - no sleepover.

low and behold, an hour later he decided )through much pouting) that he wasn't going to the party after all because "it's not worth it".

interesting ....no?

yup.

you're doing such a great job, sara. i hope when my kids are jake's age, i can stand my ground like you guys!

sappy · Guru

apies wrote:

sappy wrote:

in case you're all interested - here's what we decided on.

we told jake he could go to the party and he could stay until midnight BUT we were coming to pick him up then - no sleepover.

low and behold, an hour later he decided )through much pouting) that he wasn't going to the party after all because "it's not worth it".

interesting ....no?

yup.
you're doing such a great job, sara. i hope when my kids are jake's age, i can stand my ground like you guys!

thank you so much for this. it means a ton to me.

a_mastermom · Guru

sappy wrote:

in case you're all interested - here's what we decided on.

we told jake he could go to the party and he could stay until midnight BUT we were coming to pick him up then - no sleepover.

low and behold, an hour later he decided )through much pouting) that he wasn't going to the party after all because "it's not worth it".

interesting ....no?

Glad to see you took my advice!

Seriously, I can't even imagine having to deal with a teenager. I am totally dreading those years.

Ani_Iconic_Casting · Member

**NOW CASTING FABULOUS, OUTRAGEOUS AND FUNNY FAMILIES FOR A NEW DOCUSERIES, “MY FAMILY”
MAJOR CABLE NETWORK is searching for a large, extended and multi-generational family to be the stars of their own comedy reality show. We’re looking for funny families that REDEFINE THE TRADITIONAL and BREAK THE MOLD of your typical ......ho-hum American household.

This show will document their lives and explore the family’s complexity while witnessing the craziness, chaos and love that makes their family special.

• At your annual Thanksgiving dinner, do you look around and think your family should have a reality show because no one would believe it otherwise?
• Do you find yourself having to explain your family dynamic to those unfamiliar with how things work in your non-traditional household?
• Do your siblings, parents, in-laws or hired help bring a new element that pushes the envelope? Maybe someone is in a May/Dec relationship or has taken on responsibilities or roles that might deviate from the norm? Perhaps one of them is gay or was adopted from a far-flung exotic locale? Is there someone of a different race or ethnicity that’s mixing things up in your previously homogeneous family?

If your family puts the FUN in dysFUNctional, then this is the show for you!!!
Tell us about you and your family. The good, the bad and the ugly.
EMAIL ALL INFO TO ANI@ICONICCASTING.COM:
All Family Names, ages and occupations.
A brief bio about your immediate and extended family.
Include a family photo(s).
Contact Phone numbers for the main contact in each family.
* This is a feel good show where at the end of the day LOVE CONQUERS ALL.
* All family members involved must live in close proximity to one another.
*Characters welcome.

Thank you!
Ani
iconiccasting.com
myfamilycasting.com
ani@iconiccasting.com
818-980-2732 ext.301