What Will My Teen Do This Summer?

I remember well the kind of trouble I got into the summer of my sixteenth year.

I drank for the first time.
I stayed out all night for the first time.
I rode in a car with a drunk driver for the first time.
I had sex for the first time.

I met people who lived much 'faster' lives that I had ever imagined.

Now I look at my sixteen year old son and I want to lock him in his room ;)

Well, that's just me being funny. I'm not really all that worried about Sean this summer - but I do want to be smart and keep my eyes open to potential problems.

So much changes in these last few years of 'childhood' - or is it these first few years of 'young adulthood'?

He'll meet lots of new people when he gets a job. He'll discover new possibilities and be faced with so many decisions. A parent can only hope that enough lessons have been learned and that he'll make the right choices when they come along.

I've decided that we need to have a family meeting and lay down some ground rules for the coming months. Since we just moved into the city - his social life won't be made up of all the kids that we've known forever. I want to make sure that he knows how to respond to trouble and how to call for help.

My friend Aurelia is holding a special teleseminar series for parents like me - to help us all come up with a great plan for the summer and to help our teens have a great vacation season and hopefully come through it a little less worse for wear than I did way back then.

You can learn more about the teleseminar here: http://parentingmyteen.com/schools_out.html

Pick up an access ticket for yourself or even consider gifting one to a friend :)