Their interests should be teen interests.

****

Well, for the boys anyway, that's pretty much just sex ;) and maybe sports/cars.

My college girlfriend and I were allowed to share a bed together at her father's house. She was only 18. He didn't know if we were having sex or not, but he trusted both of us to be smart enough be safe. And we were -- we had both been tested for STDs and used birth control every time we had sex. We both graduated from college without an unplanned pregnancy.

Was her father sending the wrong message?

My girlfriend's mom didn't allow us to sleep in the same bed at her house because she thought that my girlfriend's four younger sisters might get the wrong idea. Two of those sisters got pregnant as teens, one of them twice.

Was her mother sending the right message?

No and yes.  But there were other messages obviously that one did, and the other didn't send as well. Or sometimes people on their own make bad choices anyway

I never stayed in the bed with my girlfriend/now wife when i was home-by my choice-because it was the wrong message to send to my younger brother and sister. I never drank around them ever (and as I've said, I am not a drinker anyway). But I knew, even though I was now older, to them I was still a peer, the equal they always played with. They would, and always did, want to do the things I did. I was more mature now, and they were still kids, but I wanted them to not think certain behavior was ok for them, since I was older (and more mature anyway than them even at their ages).

But I also tried to send other messages then just that to them as well. I hope some of it rubbed off, and some of the messages got through. Knock on wood.

Brendan wrote: ...My college girlfriend and I were allowed to share a bed together at her father's house. She was only 18. He didn't know if we were having sex or not...

He knew... He knew....

Well, see Joe, a man and a woman have different parts and when those parts get together....

Just kidding,

Edited because Matt hawes has a dirty mind

Rob wrote: ...When those parts come together...

Um.

Man, I'm dirty-minded today.

Yeah, her dad probably knew. She was hot. (Still is, I am told.)

The point is that my girlfriend's father had a realistic view about young people having sex, and probably would have bought condoms for her (or her sisters) if asked. Meanwhile, her mother was an active member of her church, where birth control was considered a bad, bad thing. (Doctors recommended that my girlfriend be put on birth control pills for medical reasons at age 15 and her mother wouldn't hear of it until she was 18.) The girls only heard "don't have sex" and would have been brutally punished if condoms were found in their purses. Forbidden fruit + natural human urges + Catholic guilt = unplanned pregnancy.