Claire64

I'm going through this with my 12 year old right now. He has a "girlfriend" who goes to his school, and they actually hang out a lot. She comes over most days after school and they hang out with a bunch of kids on the weekends. I have made the rule that if they're going on a "date" or even hanging out outside of my house, there has to be at least 5 kids there. That way there is no single, or double dates.

With my older son, he was more into hanging out with guys and playing sports until he was about 13. He went on his first "official" date just after he turned 14 and he's had a bunch of girlfriends since then. I didn't really put any restrictions on him, because he is very level-headed and knows what is acceptable and what is not.