I just wonder...

...what I will do when my little ones get that old. I'm speaking about a news story I heard today on the way to work. Apparently a new movie was released last night called 'Twilight.' I am so out of the loop that I had no clue what the heck this was all about but the point of this post is not the movie itself, which from what I've heard today I'm not sure is even appropriate for its audience. Something about vampires and love and hot boys and all marketed to the 8th grade set. Interesting. Though again, not the point of this post. The point? Midnight release. On a Thursday. Not a holiday weekend kind of Thursday mind you, just a normal run of the mill type Thursday. As in school night kind of Thursday. With bazillions of pre-teen and teenaged kids all over the place going to see a movie AT MIDNIGHT!!!!

Am I the only one who thinks that this is a bit out of line with what 12 and 13-year-olds should be doing at midnight on a school night? Waiting until 7pm the next day and seeing the movie like we would have to have done was apparently just too much for some kids to accept? Is it just bizarre to think that parents can draw a line at leaving the house after 8pm on a school night?

No, clearly I am not the only one. As I was listening to WTOP this morning on my drive I heard a snippet of the President of the National PTA talking about how out of whack this is, how parents should know when to put their foot down and make the right choices for their children. I've searched all over pta.org, WTOP, CNN, Washpost.com, NPR, etc. trying to find the clip or at least a news story of this woman and what she had to say but apparently the Obama's choosing Sidwell Friends School for their kids is a far more important news item than millions of parents allowing their kids to do something outrageous like this.

So, as I began this post... I wonder what I will do when JAM is 14 or 15 and comes to me with the latest "I have to this or I'll be labeled a social outcast" or Red decides that she needs to go to that party even though it might not be the safest choice. I hope we'll do what we need to do now, and in the next few years, to lay the ground work so that we won't have these kinds of issues but even with all the planning and good intentions, something like this will inevitably surface. I know it will, and I hope I'll be able to look the kid in the eye and say no. Even if it means I'll lose my Dad of the Year title. Well, let's be serious. Like I was ever going to be in the running for that in the first place.