When your child starts dating

eheh..12 I think is too young.
14 at the earliest, but my mom was right to wait until I was sixteen to start dating.

I was 'dating' at twelve, lol. It was more of puppy love...such as the school dance or a group 'date' to the movies with a parent in attendance. I didn't truly start dating till I was 14...yeah not a huge difference it seems but a lot happens maturity wise in two years. At 14 I was dating an 18 year old...an no...nothing happened. He was a gentleman in every sence of the word (not many are). At 15...I met my now ex-husband and was with him for nearly 11 years. If your son is mature enough and you meet the girls parents I don't see why a parent chaperoned 'date' would be inappropriate. Just set boundries.

Kids at this age, especially boys, tend to 'date' in packs. Hang out, go to the movies. They don't really know what a 'date' is. The girls at this age, and apparently every other, tend to be light years ahead of the boys. They are the ones you have to watch, til high school, then the roles switch and the boys hormones really kick in..

I would suggest that he hang out with her with some other people too, the group congregating thing works well for 6th and 7th graders..They are very young still and just figuring it all out.

Mom to three teenagers

16 was the age for all of our kids. They balked occasionally, but not badly. Everything was in a group anyway, so they spent time with "the other" eventually anyway, but in a pack.

I have three daughters. I'm thinking 40 or so sounds good! I saw a bumper sticker the other day that my husband wants. It reads: Guns don't kill people, Dads with good looking daughters do!

Our older two are 15 and 17 and have no desire at the moment. They get pretty irritated with the boy crazy behavior of some of their friends and it's just turned them off the whole thing for now. They'll get there when they're ready but I'm glad they are taking their time. Probably doesn't hurt matters that we homeschool so they aren't surrounded by boys all day.

Soon to be 12 means he's 11. That sounds young, but is probably 6th grade so I can see them wanting to start socializing like that. Hopefully, it's just the innocent type of dating that they do in groups. I would absolutely make sure any dating is chaperoned at that age. I know a lot of middle schools have homecoming dances or Valentine dances now, so they start thinking of "dates" at this age. I would encourage it to be in a group setting, though. Good luck to you! I've got 5 kids, so I know all the worries that will be flooding your mind!

My children will not be dating until they are 16. I think allowing kids to "date" to hang out is pointless. I had boyfriends at 14 and I ended up pregnant at 15. Because just hanging out lead to it. If its allowed I think group dates are a must but 12 seems young to me.