‘Not on MY watch!’
-
- January
- 18
Last weekend, we had a birthday party for my son, who is now a (gasp!) teenager. My husband and I hosted took a group of his friends bowling.
It was different from the bowling parties that we’ve had in the past – this one took place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, making it an official NIGHTTIME party, which apparently makes a heap of difference when you’re turning 13.
So there we were, Britney Spears on the video screen, colored lights dancing around, soda flowing and kids laughing and bowling.
And then we saw them.
One girl (12) sitting on the lap of one boy (13). We, the chaperones (my husband, my girlfriend and I) all froze and stared. Their backs were to us, so they didn’t notice our faces of horror.
“What should we do? Tell them to get up?” I asked, not being well versed in this kind of behavior. Now of COURSE I did this kind of thing when I was a teenager (sorry, Dad), but I never did it in front of my friends’ parents! So the three of us hesitated, hemmed and hawed, until finally, my husband spoke.
“Break it up!”
The couple looked a little shocked, but the girl quickly hopped off the guy’s lap. “You may do that kind of thing with your parents, but it’s not happening on my watch,” my husband said. (I think I heard someone mutter, “Mr. Williams is mean” after that, but I can’t be positive…)
Anyway, that seemed to put a stop to it. For the evening at least. I’m not sure what happens when they’re at school or at other parties, but I do know that I’m simply not ready to deal with teenage hormones yet. I guess I’d better get ready for the ride.
Did we handle this correctly? What would you have done?
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm by Gayle T. Williams.
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Don’t second guess yourself. You did the right thing. They wouldn’t have done it in front of their own parents, and as chaperones, you are, in effect, a substitute parent for the evening. Don’t give it another thought. Be ‘mean’ as long as you want…
What’s next…holding hands?
Have to admire Mr. Williams, as the father of boys, for being assertive.
I don’t think I would have done that, though, maybe just have kept an eye on them to see if it went any further.
What was your son’s reaction?
My son – the teeanger – had no clue any of this was going on until after the party, when we were talking about it with him. He was a little horrified that we would reprimand his friends, but he seemed to realize that this is simply ‘how we do.’ I think he also realized that we wouldn’t allow him to do that, so we hold his buddies to a similar standard.
You go, Dad! Of course, I would have done the same thing. 13 is definately too young for the sitting on laps. Some parents may disagree and say what harm would it do? My position is “Nip it in the Bud!” That type of behavior, how trivial it may seem, may lead to other things, and as the responsible adult, you must let them know what you will or will not tolerate.
Listen he did what i would have done. and I have done similar. When I am put in charge of kids thats it. they are handled as if they are mine.
Good for him. Besides, he was thinking what if i was the dad of that girl? ;-]
Cause I would as well. Now if she was on your sons lap sudden blindness would have insued and he would have said huh what honey?
j/k
He did good.
You always want your son’s friends to think his dad is mean. That will go a long way toward keeping your sons out of trouble.
BTW Gayle, you definitely did the right thing. Kids need to know that there is certain behavior that they need to be sneaky about.
Seriously though, they need to be taught the right time and place to engage in certain behavior, and more parents should do what you did.