[name_f]Answer[/name_f] then suggest the next one
I will start
Drink alcohol before they’re 18
No unless supervised by us, the less taboo you make it the less likely they are to drink underage.
(19+ in my province)
Let your young kids go to sleepovers?
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Don’t currently have kids, so hopefully I can join in here!
Most likely no. They’ll be able to spend nights at their grandparents, as well as if my sister has kids then they can spend the night there, and I’d be 100% willing to host sleepovers, but I probably would never feel comfortable sending them to someone’s house to stay the night.
Get a phone?
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Get a phone?
Yes, when they need one. For us this will most likely be age 11/12 when our oldest will be taking public transport to/from school and staying home alone for a few hours. We’ll have high expectations and monitoring use regularly.
Get their ears pierced?
Yes. They must be old enough to know what it entails and care for their lobes themselves. I was 7 so around that age.
Go to a concert with friends?
Depends on a few factors, like how old my child was, who they will be with, what concert it is, but I think probably yes if they were a teen with friends I knew!
Date?
Yes, why not? Although you probably want to be more specific about the age. I also want to teach my kids about what they feel comfortable with and what not (it’s important to say no) first, what to expect, etc first.
[name_m]Leave[/name_m] teenager(s) home alone overnight/during a weekend trip?
Sure, depending somewhat on the individual kid and their maturity level. But I think most teenagers should be fine for a night or two.
Eat sugary cereal for breakfast?
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Sure, I did when I was younger and I turned out fine lol
Let your child babysit younger siblings (like 9 or 10 years old)
If my child is a teen and I believe they are responsible enough I would let them look after their younger siblings. As a teen, I have several friends with younger siblings who are super responsible and drop their siblings off at school and look after them when they are sick
Let your child/teen take the bus/train to a city centre (e.g if you lived in new jersey would you let them take the train to manhattan, or if you lived in the suburbs of e.g glasgow would you let the, take the bus to [name_u]Glasgow[/name_u] city centre) I wasn’t allowed to do this till my mid-teens.
Hell, I wasn’t allowed to do it until I actually moved out for college because my parents have always been too strict and worrying. I see it as a flaw and plan to teach future kids to be more independent and have more freedom, so absolutely yes. They’d do it with me / another adult at first then once they understand the route, how to stay safe on the road, what to do in case of this and that emergencies, etc, they can go on their own.
Fly on their own? And what age?
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I’m not a parentberry lol, but I still want to participate in this, hope y’all don’t mind
Yes! And at what age probably would depend on the kid and how independent they are, but somewhere around ten seems reasonable to me.
Watch PG-13 movies at a young age?
No. I don’t think being exposed exposed to whatever violent, or coarse language, or sexual themes are making it PG-13 is good for developing brains. I mean currently my kids are 4 and 1 so I’m not saying I’d make them wait until 13, but I don’t want to normalise or desensitize them to violence either.
Would you let your kids quit an extracurricular activity after only trying it for a term? Less than a term?
I’m not a parent yet so I hope it’s ok that I’m answering!
It depends on how much money was spent and the reason they are quitting. If they really have a lack of interest and it didn’t cost a fortune, sure! But if it did cost a lot, I might hesitate. Also if they’re quitting even though they love it, but because of other reasons such as social anxiety or bullying, I might try a few other tactics first. As a teen, I loved ballet however in one class I was the only girl who didn’t know everyone else. As someone with social anxiety it made me feel uncomfortable and I wanted to quit. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom knew how much I loved dance (and we had invested a lot of money) so she told me that after every dance class she would take me out for frozen yogurt and I could get as many toppings as I wanted (a big deal as we were a no topping family haha 
). As much as I hated it, I really did enjoy the dance aspects and I’m glad my mom made me see it through as I know that I can do hard things and still be okay after.
At what age would you allow your child to have a personal electronic device (such as a tablet, phone, computer)?
a few years ago, i probably would have said a pretty young age like 7 or 8 but recently i’ve seen so many stories in the news about crazy things happening at sleepovers. i loved going to sleepovers at my friends houses growing up, so i would still allow it but probably not until they are at least 12 and only if i know everyone who lives in the house well. i would be fine with my kids staying over with grandparents or cousins from a young age though!
would you let your child get their own car when they turn 16 (if money wasn’t an issue)?
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Yes if it is needed. We live in a big city with extensive transportation system and don’t own a car ourselves because we don’t need to, it would add more hassle than convenience in our lives (especially for parking, traffic…)
So it all depends on the situation, and I would also consider the child’s maturity at that age (mine is still little,but generally reasonable and cautious. Some kids have a reckless personality and that would be a no for me)
What age would you let your child alone at home to go out for a quick errand? (Less than 30min)
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Probably around eight. That’s when my parents started letting us stay home for a couple minutes. I think this is another thing where it depends on the maturity level of the child, but eight-nine ish seems like around when most kids are mature enough for that.
Get social media? At what age?
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Also not yet a parent, but I had very strong opinions on this scenario!
So I didn’t get any social media until I was almost 17 (like a month or two beforehand). I personally didn’t use it heaps and never had any issues.
However my younger brother and sister got social media at age 13 and 15 (we all got it literally the same week). Both of them had massive issues with it - think fake accounts, getting dragged into bullying and drama, etc. I just want to reiterate neither of them were at fault, but got caught in some really tricky situations.
The three us of are now several years older and all out of school. I am now watching my younger sisters, currently 13 and 15 use social media. Whilst they have had any major issues, there has been lots of issues among their friends based upon things said or posted on social media.
Sorry for the long story lol.
All of this to say, I don’t really have a set age. It would follow lots of discussions about online safety, about how much social media should be a part of our lives and them demonstrating the ability to set healthy boundaries for themselves. I personally probably wouldn’t allow it until 9th grade or so. From family experience and other kids I’ve worked with - year 7 is a massive transition year with them starting high school. Kids are learning who they are in this stage of life and friendship drama is often really extreme at this age.
But I definitely don’t think social media is all bad! I also don’t think they need to have every single one.
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At what age would you allow your child to begin going on one-on-one dates?
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I’m not sure if you mean with friends or with a bf/gf, but if you mean the latter, I would probably let them do that when they start high school. If they were younger than in high school, like year 5 or 6, I would want to go with them because that’s a bit young for dating I feel.
If you mean with a friend, maybe about 10?
Also, I wanted to say I agree with you about social media as it can get messy if you are not very mature. I started using it at the same age you were when you started and I made a lot of big mistakes. (I’m a really shy person and didn’t have much experience with socializing and how to do so properly so I also feel like it has a lot to do with how mature you are for your age and how much you’ve experienced in regards to socializing). It makes me sad that a lot of really young children are on social media now because even when you get older, it can be a hard thing to handle.
At what age would you let your child have a pet? (A fluffy one haha).
A fluffy pet - I guess it depends on the pet! I got a cat when I was six, and a dog when I was 9, but other animals way before then. It also depends if there are pre existing children in the family and they’re sort of “family pets“ in a way.
Would you allow your child to change their name? If they’re 16 and they have repeatedly discussed their discomfort with their birth name to you, and it’s not just a phase. Also if the change was unrelated to gender identity.
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