Growing up, I couldn't wait to have a curfew, and I'm sure my
parents blinked a few times when I'd innocently ask them when my curfew
was. But for me in my innocence, having a curfew meant of course
that I was older, and that I was likely also doing things that were
slightly forbidden (like thinking
about taking a road sign! I was so darn dangerous!), so that I
had to be reined in by a curfew. Naturally, when I became of age
to actually have
a curfew, I resented it and immediately saw it for the stupidity that
it was (going to work at my job at a donut shop, for instance, caused
me to break the law repeatedly, as I was both out too late and too
early depending on my shift), and like most teenagers in my town then,
considered myself above the curfew law.
All I can say is that I'm
glad I didn't live in Portland. Parents there are being hauled
into court if their under-15-year olds break curfew and are being held
responsible for their teens' misbehavior. Curfew, by the way, is 9:15 on school nights for
kids under 14 and not in high school, and 10:15 on weeknights, and
10:15 on weeknights and midnight on weekends for kids who are at least
14 and in high school. The new curfew laws are an attempt to
rising curb teen violence in the area, as authorities are hoping that
when parents are held responsible for their kids' behavior, it will
improve. Well, duh. I don't think the hours are all that
unreasonable except for older teens, but I sure hate someone telling me
what to do.
How about you, parents of teens? Are there curfew laws in your town? How do you feel about them?
