I remember clearly the day that my 16-year-old son confessed he was on Tinder.
It was a champagne Sydney day, bright blue sky and sun belting down on the sand at our local beach. I’d managed to extricate him from the comfort of the lounge, out the front door, into the sunlight, all the while not looking away from his iPhone.
This is hardly breaking news to any parent of a teenager. Or any parent of a tweenie. Or any parent, such is our growing psychological dependence on these devices.
For all the hormones surging through his lean lanky body he’s a pretty congenial, easy-going and compliant teenager. I, on the other hand, am none of those things. So when I bark orders to step away from the phone he generally does.
Top Comments
It's an adult dating site - not for 16 year olds. I'm sure he would be breaching terms of service. Also, I'm just wondering what's wrong with the hundreds of girls in and around his school that he would have contact with on a weekly basis?
Dating is part of life for a 16 year old. If he showed no interest in a relationship with anyone wouldn't that be more worrying?
It's good he felt comfortable asking you for dating advice, means you have open communication, something some parents would be almost jealous about with their teenage children. You're doing the right things, you are talking and you are there for him.
Don't be too stressed, that "nasty middle aged guy" he is talking to might one day turn out to be the mother of your grandchildren!