It’s inevitable. Whether you like it or not, your teenagers will sooner or later go out as part of a group or a couple. You just have to have a broad mind and keep your communication lines open so your kids won’t have to sneak out or keep things from you.

Here are ways to ensure that your children are safe – while still having fun – when hanging out with friends.

- Keep an address book handy and list down their friends’ mobile phone numbers, home phone numbers, addresses, schools, and even the names of their parents.

- Make it a rule to have the group or friend inviting them come over to the house before they leave. This is a chance for you to meet them.

- Know beforehand who is driving, where they’re going, what they’ll be doing, how your teenager is going home, and what time they’ll be back.

- Equip your teenagers with a mobile phone. If they don’t have one, give them enough loose change or a phone card for public phones just in case something happens and they want to reach you. Add cab fare too.

- Caution them to act properly when in public since unruly behavior attracts attention. They might attract the hostile kind.

- Strip them of jewelry. Snatchers abound and prey on the young.

- Tell your children to avoid being alone with a boyfriend or girlfriend in bedrooms, a parked car, or an unsupervised house.

- No experimentation with drugs and alcohol. These substances may impair judgment, and sex or rape may happen.

- Try to have your children go only to nearby places so that if an emergency comes up, you can easily reach them.

- Take a trip down memory lane and don’t scrimp on the mushy details. Tell the kids how you and your husband met and how their grandparents fell in love. Sharing your story makes them less hesitant to tell their own, and will make them discover another dimension of you and your spouse they don’t normally see.

- After a date, ask your children how it went and their views on relationships. This will make them feel that you are concerned about their love life, and that you treat them like adults.

- Give praise where praise is due. Tell them you appreciated it when they introduced their friends to you or that they called to say they’ll be late.

- At every opportunity, tell your teens that you love them very much. This gives them a sense of respect so they will seek dates who respect them too.

- When something is amiss, you can talk privately. Tell your teenagers what you think, then hear their side. Finally, agree on a workable solution.

- Help make the first date a memorable experience but spare the camera since this might border on the exaggerated.

Going out with friends and dating are rites of passage. Unless you want to raise a recluse, then you have to accept it. Look at it as training ground for important relationships your children will have when they’re all grown up.

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