Do you think parents should still have the right to give permission to their daughter to date and furthermore even if they're 18 or 19 yrs old?

If a child is living in the parent’s home, it is a bit different than if they are living on their own. But 18 is getting pretty old to have to get permission to date. However, your parents love you, they care about you, they want you to have good experiences and not be in any danger. Even though we say there is full equality, there are still differences between boys and girls, and it is hard for parents to act as if there aren’t differences. But perhaps they should care as much about who their son is dating, where their son is going, etc. as they do their daughter, rather than not care about either their son’s or their daughter’s comings and goings.

it’s a double standard because guys can’t give birth i suppose. and basically if your living under someone elses roof and your of legal age (18+) you are supposed to do what they say..within the law anyway. Parents will always try to be protective of their children. You gotta get that paycheck rolling in, get your own pad, and then you can date whomever you wish. As far as being away on campus..what your parents don’t know won’t hurt them I always said. Spring the new beau on them Christmas morning opening presents.

Technically the kids are adults but I hope mine would at least listen to my opinion…but I wouldn’t ever have them not date someone just because I don’t like ‘em unless I clearly foresee danger.

At that age a parent who forbids their children to date still cannot make sure they don’t. They may be able to give good advice and possibly discourage their child from dating certain people, but the children (not sure what other word to use, they are really adults) will always find a way to do what they want. Parents would generally be better off encouraging a relationship where they are prepared to talk to their parents about issues.

Legally, you don’t need your parents permission to do anything once you turn 18 but if you are still dependent on them financially you might just have to choose between living by their rules or losing their financial support. You pay the bills, you make the rules.

I think once your 18 you should be able to make your OWN decisions for everything.

@Brenna_o Age doesn’t necessarily correlate with maturity, and it certainly has nothing to do with parents’ separation anxiety. It is not always possible to distil these things down to the way things should be.

First of all I think it’s different for girls and boys because boys don’t get pregnant, and if the girl is still living at home with her own parents, the arrival of a baby would affect her parents as much as it affects her.

It’s also different for people still living at home with their parents’ support because that support can easily be cut off if the parents don’t approve. They may not have any legal right to stop their daughter dating whoever she wants, but they can certainly cutt off her financial support.

Really it depends on the maturity level of the daughter or son involved.

I don’t the 18/19 year old should get permission, but there is so many psychotic messed up people in the world that pretty much anything could happen. I would at least tell them the persons name I’d be leaving with, just in case something happened to me.

I asked my dad about the whole “Letting the son do almost whatever” and he thinks boys can fend for themselves but females can be easily taken advantage of. (But I believe the children should be treated equally)

Everyone else has identified the reasons for the differential treatment of sons and daughters, so I won’t go there. In answer to your question, if the parents are providing all of the adult child’s support, then they technically can set those rules. However, I believe that young people of legal age shouldn’t need to ask for permission to go on a date, nor do they and their dates need to be chauffeured by the parents. As a matter of courtesy, it’s wise to tell your housemates where you’re going (and I would say that even if we’re talking about roommates, just in case something bad happens while the person is out).