Mom or dad, would you allow your 18yo daughter to date a 21yo guy?

When anyone turns 18 this funny thing seems to happen where anything their parents ever said to them suddenly becomes irrelevant.

She's an adult, not her family's property!

She's 18. I'd like to think if I had a daughter, I'd have raised her well enough to be able to make mature decisions at that age.

Of course I'd let her. At age 18, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to try to limit who she sees, and it's not like I could actually stop her. The most I could do is create a power struggle that causes her to hide it from me, which isn't productive. If I'm concerned for her safety, I should be there if she needs me, but I can't do that unless I trust her judgement.

Yes. Why? Because when I was 17, my mom let me date a 22-year-old.

What if a super gorgeous 23 year old dates a 41 year old man?

18 is too old to be told who you can and can't date. Tell the parents to back the fuck off, and move out if they get all possessive and bossy over you. It's not healthy.

Yes. My parents did it well.

I met my current boyfriend on Facebook the summer after I graduated high school and I had just turned 18. My bf is 6 years older than me. My parents being 4 years apart thought it was almost a stretch.

So for our first date he had to have dinner with my family and if they approved we could go finish our date out in the city.

I find it appropriate to be cautious because a lot of 18 year olds still need parental discipline. Especially considering my generation is full of twats. Agh.

Anyway, yeah. Whatever.

"allow" implies I can control what she does. She is 18 and old enough to make her own decisions. A 3 year age difference is nothing to me.

On the first date, I wouldn't want to meet him unless she mentioned it. After a date or two sure, I'd ask to meet him, but only if they are comfortable with the idea.

I would think by the age of 18, my child would know better than to let a boy come before her grades. I would respect and trust her decisions at this point and let her jump into life as an adult with the ability to make her own choices.

It's up to the daughter to make the right choices. If she is of legal age. It's all up to her.

If my parents tried to tell me who I could and could not date when I was 18, I would have told them to shove it up their ass

I don't think that's a bad age gap. Although, when my mam was 18 she was dating a bloody 31 year old! How my grandparents let that happen I really don't know. I'm glad it did happen, though, otherwise I wouldn't be here:P!

But aside from that, I think it's fine. The person you mentioned seems mature enough, and they're 18, so they should be able to decide who they're dating and be sensible about it.

I'm 18 and my mom told me, after I went through a lot of shit with my last boyfriend, that she doesn't want me to date younger guys and thinks I should only be dating guys that are like 21 or older hahaha, once you become 18, you have the right to make your own decisions regarding who is in your life and once you get to be 18, things like age begin to slowly become irrelevant.

At 18 let her make her own decisions for fucks sake.