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    Do curfews keep teens out of trouble?

    Do you have any experience? What do psychologists think?
    What is the right way to use curfews?

    +1  Views: 4828 Answers: 11 Posted: 13 years ago

    11 Answers

    I live in El Paso and we would go over the bridge and drink starting at age 15 or 16. Before all this drug crap was happening they made a 10pm curfew and DWI, assults and other crime dropped over 36% on that side of town. YES, it worked.

    If someone is defiant, curfew isn't going to work. 

    A curfew can be a good thing, but maybe not for the reason you think.
    A curfew is like a boundary. It can be put in place, and moved as the teen shows him or herself to be responsible.
    Having a time at which you have to be home is positive as long as the reason behind it is good. Personally, I believe that I was saved from many dangerous activities by having a curfew when I was a younger teen and lacking in the ability to judge the situation and make responsible decisions. My parents had raised me from a young age to know that there were consequences for each decision I made. They knew I needed to gradually be able to go out with friends in cars, and to places they may not know about. But they didn't throw me into the deep end of the pool to begin with. As I showed that I was more mature, they made the curfew later and later, and then finally removed it when they saw I was ready for the freedom.

    Have 3 kids 2teens curfews do not work have to find some thing to keep hands and mind busy to keep them busy that is appealing to them have one with court ordered curfew and he does not care does what ever now he is 19 and goes to jail comes right back out and does not learn thinks all his friends have the answers and most of them are in and out of the same place in Florida there is no work programs to keep them out of trouble.

    Volcane

    Sounds rough. Sorry to hear that, hope thinks will sort out for you and your family.

    By the time your kids are teens they are making their own decisions based on what they learn from their parents when they were 4 or 5 years old. Curfew is used to satisfy the parents, doesn't do anything to the kids but make them more rebelious. Keeping them in and close to you is not enough and video games and internet is not a way to educate you kids. You need to show them concequences for bad behavior and rewards for good behavior. Your time and attention to them is free and the best way to teach your kids how to be responsible. They need to feel pride in their accomplishments. Curfew is like jail, it doesn't work. Bad kids come from bad parents. I don't mean the parents are bad people, they just didn't pay attention to their kids development because they were too busy looking after themselves. We need to teach our kids that everything they see is not the reality of life. My daughter started working for a credit card company and is exposed to people's financial ruin and can't believe how many people are broke. She has since started saving and watching her pennies. When we tried telling her to save something for a rainy day, she didn't understand but now through her job she had her eyes opened. Not everyone on TV is a millionaire, but it looks like that to your kids. They need to be shown the reality of life to be thankful for what they have.

    Parental curfews don't work, b/c they sneak out the basement window. And when they're grounded, they go out when the parent(s)  aren't home, or at night.

    Ducky

    Moderator
    What if your house doesn't have a basement?
    Bob/PKB

    Ahem, EVERY home has a basement. One would never think of sneaking out through any other window.
    Ducky

    Moderator
    @Bob....Oh EVERY home has a basement? I thought I had seen a home, a long time ago, that seemed to sit on the ground. I was confused.
    Bob/PKB

    You must be stranded on a small land mass with only a safety pin and string not to know this. We've got to send the Skipper and Gilligan to rescue you! (stop me, please)
    Ducky

    Moderator
    Eeeeeeekkkkk.....stop...stop...stop...

    That the same as it would be to outlaw guns, then only outlaws would have them, same here only the good kid will obey curfews.

    BIG THUMBS UP FOR AMY SMITH YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD,RESPONSIBLE CHILDREN ARE THE PRODUCT OF RESPONSIBLE PARENTS. OUR SON WAS GOING OUT AT AGE 15 AND WHEN THE CAR ARRIVED TO PICK HIM UP HE ASKED FOR THE PHONE NUMBER OF WHERE HE WAS GOING. "WHY, DONT YOUR PARENTS TRUST YOU?" HIS REPLY? "YES BUT THEY ALSO CARE" A LADY SAID HER SON WAS GOING OFF THE RAILS AND I TOLD HER HE COULDNT BE BECAUSE HE WAS NEVER ON THE RAILS. HE WAS SPOILT FROM DAY ONE ALLOWED TO BE "CUTE" WHEN REALLY HE WAS BEING OBNOXIOUS MADE EXCUSES FOR BY HIS PARENTS,NO RESPONSIBILITY EVER,HE WAS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF THE NEED FOR RETROSPECTIVE ABORTION. IF YOU HAVEN`T INSTILLED RULES AND GUIDE LINES BY AGE THREE IT IS TOO LATE

    It is the parents and how they raise their children and the values they show and teach them that makes for kids to be responsbile.

    this is a good question and has mixed replies, where i live there is no such thing as a curfew for all teens, only the odd one that has been in serious trouble, so i dont really know if it works or not. But having 3 teens of my own and remembering wot I was like as a teen, if ur parents said not to do something; you wud do it, or do the opposite of wot they say, its a teen thing, only a small minority are perfect teens. Its part of growing up. I have seen on tv, places in America that have curfews and I think its a shame, but I also think if when a teen breaks or vandalises someone elses property, the parents should be made to pay the fine or repair costs, that wud take crime down a lot.

    i personally dont think that curfews work and being a teen myself i find them pointless, i agree with larmar that they are like jail, they dont work. if you want to keep them in line raise them to behave



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