Monday, December 15, 2008

curfew

Did you have a curfew when you were younger? I did - and I'm slightly embarrassed to tell you how early I had to come home when I was in high school. Although I never ever gave them any reason to not trust me (in high school, anyway) my parents apparently didn't trust me as far as they could throw me. All 4 years of high school I had to be HOME by 10:00. Unless I was with a boy - then I had to be home by 11:00. Have I left you scratching your head trying to figure that one out? Well let me know if you find the logic, I never could.

Having such an early curfew was almost dangerous. On more than one occasion, I'd be going down Rt 3 from somewhere on the south shore (usually the Hanover area) going as fast that that van could go so I could be home as close to 10pm as possible. There was just nothing safe about that scenario. Of course, you have to remember I didn't have a cell phone, as teenagers do now, so I couldn't call my mother and tell her that I was on my way home and I'd be there at 10:15.

I remember one night quite clearly, I was out with my boyfriend and we were at his friends house with a whole bunch of other kids. We weren't in the same room, I was hanging out with the girls in one room, he was with the guys in another room. I had to be home by 11 (which is humiliating when you are out with a whole bunch of people you don't know) and he came in to the room I was in at about 10:50 with NO PANTS ON! I kid you not, he had his boxers, a shirt, and nothing else. I never found out what the boys were doing that night, but it apparently did not require pants. We had a conversation similar to this:

Me: Um... you don't have any pants on
Boyfriend: nope. Don't know where they went
Me: Do you see how I have to be home in 10 minutes and we are about 20 minutes away from my house?
Boyfriend: I can drive like this
Me: You cannot drive me home with no pants on
Boyfriend: why not?
Me: Because I SAID SO, and also, what if your car breaks down and my father has to come get us?
Boyfriend: ....

that was him saying nothing as he bolted out the door to find some pants. I don't think I made it home by 11 that night, but I'm sure everyone was better off for it.

In college, when I was home for the summer, my curfew extended to about midnight. That ended up with the same scenario: me going about 100mph, trying to get home by midnight. That lasted one summer, and then my mother started spending the summers down the cape and I was free. Thus, the era of Meghan's curfew was over.

I still do not believe that strict curfews are safe. Now that the technology exists, I'd rather tell my children they have to be on their way home by a certain time, but not impose a specific time they have to be walking in the door. I'll have about a million different ways to check up on them and make sure they are really on their way home, so I guess I have it easier than my parents did.

I can promise you, my daughter will not get to stay out LATER when she's with a boy than when she's with her girl friend!

3 comments:

Bree said...

I feel your pain. My curfew was 9:00 in 9th, 10:00 in 10th, 11:00 in 11th, and 11:00 in 12th. No, that is not a mistake. 11:00 in 12th. How did I get around it, you ask? I invited everyone over to my house. Every Friday night after the football game, the party was at my house, and my parents couldn't complain because I was home before my curfew. Haha, take that!

Unknown said...

1. The guys ending up with no pants is... awkward. I can say with some certainty that no group of just guys in Epping ended up without pants while I was in high school.
2. If it pleases you, I would appreciate being reinstated onto your blog roll. I was lost but now I'm found...
3. Your husband remains the absolutely worst blogger ever. Just as an FYI. I'd leave that as a comment on his blog, but I think its more likely he'll see it here.

Unknown said...

these boys neither went to my high school (obviously) nor lived in Q-Town. I cannot understand their pantsless ways. To be honest, though my memory may be failing me 11 years later, I think they were wrestling. Which makes the fact that they had no pants on more strange.

Andrew doesn't read blogs either. He will never see this comment. I don't understand why he cannot update his blog. We have similarly busy lives and I manage to do it!