The Dating Game

It's funny how dating is fine when my almost 20-year-old daughter wants to do it, but when my 15-year-old son starts dating, it's a different story -- according to Daughter.

Son has had a girlfriend since Halloween.  She's a pretty girl and seems very nice, but she's an older woman.  Oh alright -- only by a year, but still, at 15 that year seems like much more.  She is a junior, he's a sophomore.  She has her license, he doesn't.

Son invited her over about a week after they started dating.  Hubby was home so they weren't here alone.  I came home from work to find them sitting on the couch, holding hands.  So cute!  And immediately on the heels of that thought came another:  Oh my gosh, he's my baby!  He can't be old enough to date! 

They've settled into somewhat of a routine, she comes here once a week and he goes there once or twice a week.  It's probably a good thing she doesn't live in our town - I'd be driving by her house every 30 minutes to spy.  I asked Hubby if he had "talked" to Son.  His answer?  Sure.  Yeah right!  He hasn't talked to him - not about what I want him to talk to him about!  Hubby laughs at me and says Son is a good kid, not prone to making bad choices.  I reminded him that Son is also a 15-year-old hormonal boy!  It got me nowhere.

As Son was driving to school this week (Ahhhh... a captive audience!), I brought up the subject of being a gentleman.  He didn't want to talk about it, and admitted he would rather have this conversation with his sister than with me.  I wasn't upset about it, but I did make sure he knows I have expectations of him!

Daughter is not happy he is dating.  It's not WHO he's dating, it's the fact that he IS dating.  She told me she can't take this - that it needs to stop.  I laughed and said that's how I felt when she started dating.  She told me this was different - she didn't have to watch when she started dating!

Ultimately, I hope to see both my children happy with someone special in their lives.  Daughter is so independent it might take her a while to find someone strong enough for her, but she will find someone eventually.  As for Son, I have no doubt someday he will find someone too, but for now - he's only 15!