Crazy Parents

[daisygirl]

Is it only me who runs into the problem of other crazy parents?? We tried really hard to monitor what video games, movies and tv shows our son was exposed to, only to find out that he would see this stuff liberally at other people's homes. I tried discussing it with the parents which sometimes worked, but now that he's 14 he's naturally attracted to the households with little parental supervision. Alot of parents think what's right for their kids is automatically right for all kids. It's not as simple as talking to these parents or telling my son we're going to trust him to use his judgement... but we can't keep him in a bubble. Any thoughts?

[Polar bear mom]

I know exactly where your coming from. Have you tried not allowing your son to visit those homes and invite those kids to your home instead. If you can handle a house full of teens it will allow you to control the content of what they're exposed to. If the others are just good kids that lack supervision they will respect your rules and if not they will stop coming around. Either way you will be able to control what your teen is exposed to.

With that said I will admit I applied this to my kids before they were teens, because unfortunately there is no way to control everything they're exposed to. I rely a great deal on trust, my children are aware of the consequences of lying, not with punishment, but the disappointment I would feel by their dishonesty.