Parent Hack: A Clever Teen Curfew That Works Every Time

A teen curfew is easier said than done. It’s Saturday night, and it’s been a long week. I’m not as young as I used to be, and staying up until my teenagers get home at 1:00 for their curfew is a real struggle.

Here’s how it usually goes. My teenage son is out having fun, but I’m yawning. I’ve got to get some sleep. “Just wake me when you get home,” I tell him. “You know you have a 1:00 a.m. curfew.” “I will, Mom. I promise.” And he goes out, and I go upstairs to bed.

And then the next thing I know, it’s morning. “When did you come home last night? I told you to wake me.”

“But Mom, I did wake you, and you said, ‘G’night, honey.’ Don’t you remember?” he protests.

Teen Curfew

Did he? Did I? Maybe … possibly…

This scenario played out every weekend when my oldest was a teenager and his friends started driving. Try as I might to stay up until they came home, I would always fall asleep. And, listen, I remember being a kid myself—nothing good happens after 1:00 a.m. Nothing. And arguing and fighting? That gets old really quick, and to be honest, I can’t be sure if he’s telling the truth.

If they don’t really wake me, how do I know it’s “only” 1:00 a.m., anyway—what if it was 2:00 or 3:00? How can I know they’re home when they said they’d be, and that they’re sober and in one piece? Would my kids lie to me knowing that I had no way to know what time they had actually gotten home? You bet they would.

I finally found out a way to outsmart my clever “of-course-I-woke-you” kids. I went to sleep in their beds while they were out. Now they had to wake me up—all the way—when they came home, and I could really rest easy.