Curfew
You’ve probably heard it many times on television: "It’s eleven o’clock. Do you know where your children are?"
You should.
If your child is "hanging around" with friends late at night, there’s a very good chance that trouble will follow. Simply warning your children about possible consequences isn’t the job. The job is to establish and enforce limits so they don’t have problems, not because they already have.
An appropriate curfew time depends upon a child’s age, the level of trust he or she has earned, the nature of your community, and the need to be well rested for the next day such as for school. Curfew times can also be extended for special events such as school dances.
Consider it a given that your children won’t like your decision to impose a curfew. Although you want to listen to their opinions and make sure the curfew time is reasonable, in the end, this is a parental decision. Parenting is not a popularity contest.
Many parents worry about how to enforce a curfew. They can’t exactly make a child come home. The best way to make this happen is by setting the stage with good discipline for years in advance. Enforce rules and directions on small things - lots of them - for years. Then, when you set a curfew, your children will already know that you mean what you say.
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