How much Time Should my Teenage Daughter Spend with her Boyfriend? That is a very common question that many parents have when their daughter finally has her first boyfriend.
Relationships can be one of the best things we experience in life. Unfortunately, many problems arise from them and one of the major ones would be the time spent with significant others especially at a young age. There are many different aspects that determine how much time your teenage daughter should spend with her boyfriend.
This is assuming that they are alone and without any prenatal supervision.
If you and your significant other or the boyfriend’s parents are with them, they should be able to spend long periods of time together. Since there will be a parent in the midst of them, there isn’t much that can go wrong.
Many times, boyfriends will go on vacations with their girlfriends and her family. This type of bonding strengthens the relationship between the boyfriend and the family.
If they are going to spending time alone, these next factors should determine how much time should your teenage daughter spend with her boyfriend.
Factors that Determine How Much Time your Teenage Daughter should Spend with her Boyfriend
1. Have you Met the Boyfriend?
The first and most important factor would be how many times you have met the boyfriend.
Have you had lunch or dinner with him as a family?
Does he seem responsible and is a positive role model for your daughter?
What I’m trying to point out is that it is very important to know who the boyfriend is because he is the one that will be with your daughter. Leaving your daughter to hangout with a person that isn’t close to the family should be a concern.
If you barely see the boyfriend, it might be time to talk to your daughter about bringing him around more. Suggest that the boyfriend should come over for dinner so that everyone in the family can get to know him more.
From there, you can determine what path he is going on in life and you will know if he will be a positive role model for your daughter.
2. Age
The second factor is how old is your teenage daughter? There is a big difference in maturity between a 15-year-old and a 19-year-old. A girl that is still in her early teens should not be allowed to spend more than an hour a day with her boyfriend unless there is supervision from either parent.
This makes sense because neither she nor her boyfriend are of the age to drive yet so there aren’t many places to go or things they can do on their own.
On the other hand, If your daughter is older (late teens), then she should be allowed to spend more time with her boyfriend because she is older and more mature.
There are still many factors to consider when it comes to how much time your daughter should see her boyfriend. But when it comes to the age factor, the older the teen is, the more time it would be okay for her to spend time with him.
3. Maturity
The third factor that goes into the amount of time the daughter and boyfriend should see each other would be how mature is your daughter. This is something you have to determine for your self because it is by her actions that show her level of maturity.
This is important because if your daughter is not mature, she will not be able to make the right decision in situations that come up. The last thing you want is your daughter listening to her boyfriend into doing something wrong that will lead to consequences down the line.
Something to keep in mind is that age does not always match the maturity of someone. Many teens mature late and it shows by their actions. A way you can tell if you have a mature daughter would be to look for qualities that do with maturity like:
- Being Calm
- Responsible
- Discipline
- Strict on Personal Boundaries
There are many more qualities but these are just a few to name.
If your daughter shows mature qualities in her, she should be able to see her boyfriend more because you can trust that she will be responsible when she is with him.
4. Have they known each other for a while?
If your daughter gets a boyfriend and wants to spend time with him right off the bat, this might be time to step in and mediate the situation. When it comes down to this fator, the amount of time spent should be the same amount of time they have known each other.
What I mean by that is a couple that has been together for 2 years should be able to spend more time regularly than 2 people that have only known each other for a month.
So with that being said, if the daughter is still new into the relationship, she should not be spending a lot of time in the beginning until they both know that they are great for each other.
How are they Spending Time?
The next factor that needs to be addressed would be about how they are spending their time. questions like what are they doing and where are they going should be asked. Having an understanding of what is going on when they are together is important.
Since they are going to be alone, you should have reassurance that they are not doing anything wrong that can cause problems.
It is also important to know where they are going to be spending time and what types of activities they will do for safety reasons. If they are able to drive, they can go wherever they want so understanding their plan is important.
This does not mean you put a tracker on her phone or constantly call, this is just understanding from the beginning what they will do and making a phone call here and there just to check up on them.
Final Determination
After going through the factors and implementing your daughter with these examples, you can make a determination on how much time they should spend with each other.
A very important note to remember is that spending a lot of time with someone isn’t always such a bad thing. Many relationships have a positive effect on people and they tend to live a happier life because they are always around their significant other.
So if you see your daughter happy and doing good in her life, letting her spend time with her boyfriend might not seem like a bad idea. It is obvious that it affects her in a positive way so trying to limit that time can cause negative effects.
If you start to notice that your daughter choses the boyfriend over the family more, click here to find the solution to this problem.