Stepdaughter and Dating

Dear Best Friend,

My stepdaughter caused us a little bit of trouble last night.  She's a good kid most of the time but she can also manipulate her dad and it really drives me crazy.  We have an 11:00 curfew, which I'm sure for many people is early, but I believe that kids need to be home early enough to get some sleep and it lessens the opportunity to get into trouble.  She knows this.  But still, as most teenagers would, she tries anything she can to get around it.  Being that she lives with her mom most of the time, it's even easier for her to work around her curfew by saying that she wants to stay at her mom's house for the night.  Typically my husband will say okay, rather that push the issue.  However, I was the one holding the cell and I'm not that much of a pushover.

Her first text was something like:  Have plans and will be out late.  Don't want to bother you so I'm going to moms.

My response:  You won't bother us.  Just be home by 11:00.  See you then.

Her response:  It will be closer to midnight.

Me:  Sorry, honey.  Your curfew is 11:00.

No response from her after that.  However, at 10:45 we got another text.

Her: I'm going to stay at moms.  See you tomorrow.

My husband called her and they had a discussion about this.  She came home at 11:15 and we were waiting for her.  We had a talk about curfews and being respectful.  She actually cried and I felt bad, but I didn't back down, even though I did give her a very big hug.  And it worked!  She apologized and told us that she knows we love her.

Love,

Your Best Friend