I think there should be a law that you should get to approve your kid’s friend list. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do the "friend screening" for the usual sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll (wait, I’m dating myself.) What is the millennial equivalent of Rock & Roll? …hmmm…rap. I’ll go with rap! …but I really don’t judge rap as I still remember the late 90’s lyrics of:
“I like big butts and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, want to pull up tough…”
I was the coolest Mom EVER when the remake of that came out not too long ago. Car full of teenage boys, and yours truly knew every word. Cool...and I had to restrain and yell at my son for not jumping from a moving car--those are kind of the same, right? Anyway, I was cool.
Wow, that was a rabbit trail. I digress. Back to the friend screening. Anyway, yesterday, I decided that I’m going to give all of my son’s friends an annoyance factor. When the sum annoyance factor reaches 10, no more friends can come over to the house until another friend leave.
Said offspring can choose….lots of friends with a low annoyance factor, or 1 with a high. His choice. I’m hoping he sees the value of lots of friends with low annoyance factor. Heck, some are so pleasant, they will have negative numbers?
I, for one, think it is brilliant idea. No longer will I be put in the position to approve/disapprove friends. I will follow the trusty advise of all the folks who tell me how to parent--let him feel like he has choices, blah blah. So, upon meeting an offspring's "perspective friend," I shall give them an Annoyance Rating (AR). I will then list names and AR on a spreadsheet. Heck, I’ll even put it on a shared on google drive, so the kid can refer to it at a moment’s notice via his phone. "Nope, you can't come. Your AR is 11." I can hear it now.
The Teenage Offspring says that I’m being annoying. I say it’s brilliant. Guess it is all a matter of perspective.
...it was so much easier when he didn't question the validity of Mom Laws. <deep sigh>
“I like big butts and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, want to pull up tough…”
I was the coolest Mom EVER when the remake of that came out not too long ago. Car full of teenage boys, and yours truly knew every word. Cool...and I had to restrain and yell at my son for not jumping from a moving car--those are kind of the same, right? Anyway, I was cool.
Wow, that was a rabbit trail. I digress. Back to the friend screening. Anyway, yesterday, I decided that I’m going to give all of my son’s friends an annoyance factor. When the sum annoyance factor reaches 10, no more friends can come over to the house until another friend leave.
Said offspring can choose….lots of friends with a low annoyance factor, or 1 with a high. His choice. I’m hoping he sees the value of lots of friends with low annoyance factor. Heck, some are so pleasant, they will have negative numbers?
I, for one, think it is brilliant idea. No longer will I be put in the position to approve/disapprove friends. I will follow the trusty advise of all the folks who tell me how to parent--let him feel like he has choices, blah blah. So, upon meeting an offspring's "perspective friend," I shall give them an Annoyance Rating (AR). I will then list names and AR on a spreadsheet. Heck, I’ll even put it on a shared on google drive, so the kid can refer to it at a moment’s notice via his phone. "Nope, you can't come. Your AR is 11." I can hear it now.
The Teenage Offspring says that I’m being annoying. I say it’s brilliant. Guess it is all a matter of perspective.
...it was so much easier when he didn't question the validity of Mom Laws. <deep sigh>