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>>Note: my laissez-faire attitude to sex could change. I mean, my 14.5 yo
girl still plays with dolls and thinks boys are nice friends but otherwise
ucky--if she were actually smooching them I might be a little more uncomfortable
with the idea. Is that hypocritical or am I just being realistic?! lol<<

LOLOL Yeah, both :)

The cool thing, if you maintain communication with your kid, is that they'll
TELL you what's happening in their lives. My 17 year old son's father
doesn't believe that, but it's true.

Many of us parents of teens have had conversations that yes, it IS hard, but
then we get so amazed with the maturity and honesty of our kids.

Julian's unschooled girlfriend, Jessica, 14, is here for the summer from
Arkansas. We're in Massachusetts. There is so much trust involved here:
Jessica's parents are trusting her away from them for a couple of months, with her
boyfriend, far from home. They are trusting us to take good care of her. All
the parents trust both these kids to make good decisions, and the kids trust us
to talk to us.

They are lovely together. They are kind and respectful and silly and fun.
Neither is EVER jealous of the other -- they trust each other with their hearts.
They are young, so it's impossible to say that this is a permanent
relationship (can you ever?), but it's very clear that both of them have remarkable
intelligence about relationships.

It's a very cool thing to watch.
Kathryn



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