A Huge First

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that last night was a big night for me.

If you don't follow me on Twitter, well, I don't blame ya. I probably wouldn't follow me either. But I digress.

Last night was the first time I met my only daughter's boyfriend.

This was the scenario. My daughter, young (15 y.o.) Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, her friend Chrissy, my daughter's boyfriend Johnny and his friend Jerry, were coming to my house on Halloween to watch movies while I fixed tacos for dinner.

All in all, the evening went very well.

Johnny seems about as harmless as any 16 year old boy with a driver's license, guaged ears, a crooked hat, who plays guitar in a band (but can't name The Beatles), and who is sitting in my living room on my couch with his arm draped around my daughter's shoulders with his left hand dangling dangerously close to where it shouldn't be dangling.

Which is to say NOT VERY FUCKING HARMLESS AT ALL!!!

Actually, I think I handled things as well as can be expected. I didn't embarrass her (too much) despite making many unannounced and random trips downstairs to an incrementally less illuminated living room.

There are more lights on downstairs when I'm asleep then there were while they were watching movies!

Still, the boys left by 11 and the girls spent the night here.

This morning I got word that Johnny and Jerry think I'm funny and my tacos were delicious. Which GTO of course hates. All of her friends think I'm cool and funny and she can't stand that. Which amuses me greatly.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not stupid.

Are my daughter and I best friends? Absolutely.

Have I relinquished my roll as a Parent? Oh hellz no!

What I have been doing for the past 15 years is cultivating a relationship of openess. I want her to know that we can talk about ANYTHING without me having some melodramatic meltdown.

Because in that environment, when I DO have to throw down the Father Card and say "that's not going to happen and this is why", I have a lot more credibility and she takes me much more seriously.

It's my theory of Gravitational Parenting.

It's not very well thought out, it has absolutely no grounding in science and it has never been proven to work because I'm just making this shit up as I go along like everybody else.

But so far, so good.

My Daughter's First Rock Fest?

My daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, is 15.

She really, REALLY wants to go to something called Vans Warped Tour '09.

She earned the $40 for her ticket via babysitting. Several of her friends are going with her.

But she is having a hissy fit over the fact that her mother and I are insisting that there must be a chaperon who is over 21 to act as the Responsible Adult.

She says she's 15 and we need to "cut the cord".

I say she's ONLY 15 and has never been to an all day rock fest in August with thousands of teens with bad judgement.

I don't want someone just dropping a bunch of 15-16 year old girls off in Bonner Springs, in early August, subject to heat stroke and all of the temptations that I know go on at those events without some adult supervision.

I also don't want some 16 year old who just got their license a month ago being the sole means of "safe" transportation to and from Independence to Bonner Springs.

My position so far is that I will go online and buy the ticket, I will take her $40, but I will reserve final judgement on whether or not she can go until it gets closer to the concert date and I know who she is going with, who is driving, and whether or not she has found a responsible adult to act as an escort.

What do you all think? Am I being too permissive by even considering allowing her to go? Or too over-protective by insisting on an adult chaperon?