Parenting Style

I'm going to tell you how I was able to date a guy who was in college when I was a freshman and sophomore in high school. Not how I was able to land a guy in college who wasn't creepy or socially retarded. How I was physically able to leave my house with my parents in it to date a guy in college.

My parents weren't what you would call terribly "involved." My mom worked nights as a nurse, so she slept during the day. My dad watched a lot of TV. My grades were always good, so I could pretty much come and go at will.

My parents never set foot on my college campus until the day they helped me move into my freshman dorm room. And once I was moved in, they left. They've never been inside a campus building other than my dorm.* They never set foot on campus again unless it was to pick me up or drop me off. I selected the college, toured the campus, went through orientation, etc, etc, etc, all by myself. I had to learn how to drive a stick shift so I could drive my dad's car to the orientation, because my parents were going on vacation.

I could have been drinking and doing drugs and all that kind of stuff all through high school, but I never did. That was my choice. My sister, on the other hand, went crazy as early as junior high. My dad had to go get her in the middle of the night once because she was passed out on the sidewalk in front of her friend's house. She ran away all the time and the police were familiar with her. My brother moved out when he turned 18 (he was still in high school) to get away from their "rules." I'm not sure what rules he thought were so terrible to stick to. I guess the curfew, but that was easy enough to dodge. One parent was at work at night and the other slept like the dead. Or maybe it was the hassle over his grades. He was grounded for 1987. Anyway, the police are familiar with my brother now, too. And he has since moved back into my parents' house.

As for me? The police are familiar with me, because I seem to end up dating most of them. I did become sexually active at a fairly young age, but I wasn't pressured into it by the older boyfriend. He was responsible and respectful. And I'm not a slut now, jumping into bed with every other guy I meet. I am safely in the single digits, and don't expect to reach double digits unless I never marry. A girl has needs.

The moral of the story: ignore your kids, and one of them won't give you much trouble. Another one will probably grow out of her self-destructive stage eventually. And the third will introduce you to the fun and exciting world of the court system.

* Unless you count the University Hospital, and I don't.

Posted by Jenelle at February 23, 2006 01:56 PM | TrackBack