First Date

My teenage daughter went on her first REAL date tonight, to the movies and dinner. We've taken her and her boyfriend of the moment places before; restaurants and movies, but always with us (though we let them sit together somewhere else in the movie theater) nothing solo.  I made sure she was bathed, had pants on (she has a predilection to wearing shorts around the house since they're comfy), shoes, jacket.

Then we went over some Ground Rules. Luckily she's really not a big fan of PDA (public display of affection), so I didn't have to worry about her playing tonsil hockey during the movie.  Still. No tonsil hockey during the movie. Hand holding is great! No leaving the movie theater mid-movie. Be where they said they were going to be, at each step. Let me know when the movie is over. (They walked right next door to Johnny Rockets for dinner.) Let me know when they're done and his parents have picked them up.

She followed my Rules to the letter (though of course I can't verify the tonsil hockey part). She ended up going back to his house to hang out with him and his parents for a bit, then I picked her up. On the way home, she told me how funny the movie was, and how it was really cute that he didn't know how to pay for the dinner (him: "Do I pay up front, or what??"  her: "No. They'll bring a check, you pay then, dear."). She had a great time, she was very grateful that I allowed her to go and trusted her enough.

When we got home, there was a huge pile of leaves on our drive from the earlier winds, and we took a few minutes to have a leaf fight.

Sometimes, teenagers aren't so bad.