Open Door Policy
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in
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Do you have an open door policy? Meaning, can your daughter
and her friends hang out at your house whenever they want? I
just recently watched an episode of Wife Swap. Both ladies on
the show had swapped places with each other and both families
had teenage girls. One of the moms allowed her daughter(s) to
have company anytime including male friends without
supervision, while the other never allowed her daughters to
have friends over.
The show was a bit sad, with both of the situations being a
bit extreme. One set of girls was completely out of control
while the other set was so sheltered and honestly quite
pitiful as they were treated so negatively by their parents.
Neither set really had a healthy situation in my opinion,
which made me think there had to be a happy medium.
It is important that we allow our daughters to have some
freedom, especially our teens. But we also have to give
restrictions too. There has to be a sense of trust established
in order for proper restrictions and balance to be maintained.
A good practice is an open door policy that includes allowing
friends to visit when there is adult supervision. You will be
surprised how much you can learn from and about your daughter
as you witness her interacting with her friends.
Open Door Policy in Your Home:
Benefits
Not only will an open door policy help you in your
relationship with your daughter, your knowledge of her friends
and the way that she interacts with them, but it will also
help her in her ability to face temptation and say no to it.
She will realize the support that she has in you, as you
faithfully back her up and encourage her, not to mention are
open to her ideas, and the friendships that she seeks to
maintain become a part of your whole family, not just her life
but all of your lives.
The friends that she has come over will begin to see the love
that you have for your daughter and will begin to respect you,
your rules, and your morals and viewpoints. They will then be
more likely to refrain from pressuring your daughter with
temptations that they know you would be against. They would
have a greater sense of responsibility to you as they too have
a relationship with you.
Then, there is much to be said about how much better you’ll
know her friends and how much they will respect you for having
them around, opening up your doors, your home and your life to
them. It can really do wonders for not only your relationship
with your daughter(s) but also your relationship with her
friends and her relationship with them as well.