Tag Archives: curfew

Curfew is Not Negotiable

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How do you decide curfew? Are the rules any different for single parents? I get up before 5am to go to work so I’m in bed by 10pm on weeknights and on weekends I struggle to stay up any later because my body is used to sleeping at certain times. I have used my work/sleep schedule to determine Hailey’s curfew. During the week she has to be in the house by 10, on the weekend it’s midnight. She always tells me that none of her friends have curfews that early but I just shrug and say “ These are the … Continue reading →

Not Mom of the Year

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I have failed. I’m not going to be Mom of the Year again this year. Finally I am OK with that. When I was first divorced the guilt I had for tearing my child’s family apart made me too lenient. I always excused bad behavior, blamed it on the divorce, gave in and looked the other way. No more. Now that my daughter is a teenager it is more important than ever to be her Mom and not her friend. It is harder to be the bad guy now. The tears when she was 10 cleared much quicker than the … Continue reading →

Discipline When You’re The Only Parent

I’ve been a single parent for the past six years. One of the many things I’ve discovered along this path is that discipline is really tough to balance out when you’re the only parent in the household. Most couples will admit that there’s always a good cop/bad cop way of enforcing rules in the family. In my marriage I was the good cop and their father was the bad cop. (He was too bad in various ways, which is why we parted ways.) When I found myself a single parent with five daughters to guide and keep in line when … Continue reading →

Event by Event Curfew

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Although Tyler is too young for me to have to worry about a curfew, I’m always interested in hearing what other parents have to say about them. When I was younger I didn’t have a curfew. Not because I was allowed to run around at my own discretion. No, my mother was strict and we weren’t allowed to go hardly anywhere. No dances, or parties, or movies or school events. I attended maybe a dozen such events during my middle and high school years. That was the extent of my social life. I hear many parents and kids complaining about … Continue reading →

How To Establish A Curfew

Research from the Search Institute shows that children even teenagers need boundaries. They need to have clear rules and consequences. They need parents who know where they are and who they are with. Part of these boundaries consists of establishing a curfew. Establish a curfew when your children are young. Don’t decide what your child’s curfew will be the night of an activity. If you establish the curfew so your children know what is expected before a situation arises there will be less conflict. You should also discuss what the consequences will be if the curfew is broken. Allow your … Continue reading →