So, there’s a new boyfriend in town and my husband isn’t too happy about it.
I have to say, the whole boyfriend thing is fairly new territory for us. By the time you read this, our daughter will probably be one month into her 16th year. And she’s dating a new guy. And when I was her age, I hadn’t even made out with a boy. But times, as you all know, they have changed.
Oh my, have they changed.
My daughter’s new boyfriend is 18.
He drives a car.
He has a tattoo.
My husband is a little concerned. I am not.
I’m really not. I wish there was an easy way to explain the reasons why I’m not concerned that my daughter has an 18-year-old boyfriend who has a tattoo and drives. Maybe it’s because I’m a cool mom. Maybe it’s because even though I didn’t make out with a boy until I was 16, I did date a 19-year-old soon after that. Maybe it’s because I trust my daughter.
I don’t think the age difference is that big of a deal. He’s a senior, she’s a sophomore. She’s very mature for her age and they seem to have a good connection, they get each others’ sense of humor and like one another.
The tattoo — well, look around you. Maybe even look on your own skin. Thirty-six percent of adults ages 18 to 25 have a tattoo and that number goes up 4 percent if you are 26 to 40 years old. Forty-five million Americans have at least one tattoo. I have a tattoo.
Tattoos aren’t going anywhere; in fact, they’re only getting more popular. So for my daughter’s boyfriend to have a tribal tattoo along his arm isn’t shocking to me. If it were a tattoo of a gun or something of a derogatory nature, then I might be concerned, but it’s a bunch of stripes in a tribal design. Big deal.
And he drives. Everyone drives eventually. He has never once brought her home late, and he’s been respectful to her and to me. He has brought her doughnuts and flowers, taken her to dinner and to movies and he has been kind to her and hasn’t given me one reason to doubt that he’s nothing but a nice person who wants to date my daughter.
So, until he proves me otherwise, I’m going to put my trust in him. Because I read a really great quote the other day by Ernest Hemingway and it was this: “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
And this kid deserves my trust. So he’s getting it.
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