Is it appropriate for an 18 year old to date a 13 year old?

I pray that this is not your case. I do not have enough information to comment further on it - this is a matter for the professionals, anyway.

The one thing I would say to parents (being one myself): the best cure is prevention. My opinion: discuss sex and dating early and often with the kids, in age-appropriate ways but starting long before puberty. Watch programs that have sexual content (dating, flirting, dress etc. - this kind of stuff even appears on the Disney Channel) with your kids and be prepared to challenge and talk about the ideas and images presented there. If you haven't established the dialogue before your kid discovers sex, it's damned hard to establish it afterwards. You didn't want to get told "No, and because I said so" either.

A pretty difficult situation - I sympathise with the parents. The young girl is obviously in too deep and risks doing things that will jeopardise her future happiness. Yes, I think she is too young for this young man.

As a mother I was very upset to read this blog. It is a difficult situation. A 18 year old legal adult has no business with a 13 year old little girl. A 16 year old boy has no business with an 11 year old BABY! I would personaly make sure both the daughter and the boy friend's lives were a living hell, to the point that they wouldn't want to see each other. He would wish he was in jail by the time I got done with him!

~Ivy~

No. I had a simlar problem with my step daughter. Basicaly the same thing.

First off all I file a complaint against the police department. Also I would goto the town Mayor and council and tell them unless the police department followed up with the complaints you would sue the towns police department and the town for failure to protect. Tell them you will also report the story to the national media. Email me

Love is blind they say

For parents who do let their young teens date (I'm not one of those, BTW) you have to check out the boys. It may sound old fashioned, but it would cut down on a lot of deceit that goes on in the teen dating world. Insist on knowing where they live, meeting the boy, knowing their phone numbers and calling their parent if they are going to spend time at your home, or with your teen anywhere.

Lock the doors, put in an alarm system and make sure your teen doesn't know the code on the alarm when it is set for night time security. Once they're in, they'll wake the dead trying to sneak out.

That may sound harsh, but you have to keep them safe.

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I completely with waht everybody said. I got the idea for this blog from an episode of Maury. I was really disgusted to discover how many youngsters are in this situation and how little the police are willing to do about it.

I understand your point, but at the same time there needs to be something done in this kind of situation. I think it's the parents responsibility to do what they can. However, sometimes the parents can only do so much. I don't know what the solution is.

O'Ceallaigh, please don't apologize for your generation. Your generation may have instigated it, but mine is all too ready to put their brain on mute and deal with whatever has been handed to them because it's easier than actually doing anything themselves.

I cannot think of a situation where it is appropriate for a 13 year old to date an 18 year old. I also am upset to hear that the police aren't doing anything. Not surprised, but upset. Having never had need of a restraining order, don't you seek one from a judge, not an officer? If I were the parent, I'd be putting together a list of every time I went to the police. Then I'd hit the courthouse. Then I'd be calling my Senator. There's a lovely thing called Constituent Services. They may not do a damn thing in Congress, but they fall all over themselves to help people with issues such as this. And trust me, a Senator WILL get some results. Even if they what O'Ceallaigh said is true, nobody wants to listen to the police chief chewing their butt because a Senator was chewing theirs.

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Well done, Intricate Girl. Once upon a time girl's and boys could get married at eleven, without ever having met, but even then they were supervised very strictly and not allowed the amazing drug of sex until the girl reached puberty. The laws are different now and in this complex and difficult society marriage is generally forbidden until eighteen. Very few people are able to keep themselves safe until that age and I think that is the measuring stick of an adult. A person is not an adult until they can be relied on to make good decisions for their own safety.

There was a time in my state of Australia when kids like the one in your story, Reality Check, could be taken into State care and I hate and disagree with that. It resulted in kids believing they were being punished, not protected. But I do believe there should be intervention, not fully by Police, but by some arm of government that has agents who understand the philosophical, social and psychological issues operating in these situations. It is a Child Protection issue.

This girl is an example of why our laws now specify eighteen as the age of marriage. Many people don't grow up according to my definition until they are over thirty.

If the value of each human being is equal to the value of the one you love why would you ever participate in killing by war or any other activity with deadly intent. Xingtiao also at soulcast, blogfeast and reviewparty.