When I was going out with my fiance, we got stranded one night in a horrible storm over a friends house. I called my parents, and they told me in no uncertain terms I’d better get home pronto.
Years later I had a friend whose parents were very lax and let boyfriends and girlfriends spend the night over the house. They became hard workers, but mainly because they realized no one in the family would stand by them if they failed at anything - nobody really cared about anyone else.
It took me a while to realize how much my friend envied my “strict” parents. Last I knew of her she still had not had a good marriage.
While dating my future wife that happened. I drove through the snow and blizzard and finally made it to her house - she still live with her folks. But by then it was too bad out to head back to my place.
I slept on the couch in the den. And Mom made a great breakfast!
"While dating my future wife that happened. I drove through the snow and blizzard and finally made it to her house - she still live with her folks. But by then it was too bad out to head back to my place. I slept on the couch in the den. And Mom made a great breakfast!"
In the 1970s, when I was a teenager, I dated a girl -- best friend of my cousin -- who lived about 30 miles away, across the metro area. It went on for a year, the families grew to trust us (for good reason), and both her and my parents let us stay out later and later. At one point it became obvious that, having me drive home at 1 AM or later didn't make sense. So her mother gave us instructions about what to do if the night ended and I was too tired. I had my spot on the family room couch and the girl was to leave her parents a note on their bedside table.
We were both Catholics -- and, no I never laid a hand on her other than kissing and the usual innocent stuff that goes along with that. I had been dating the gal for a year, I had become a fixture around the house, the gal's sister was already calling me her "brother," so me being around on Saturday or Sunday morning was natural. And if it was Sunday morning I often went to church with them.
I have to admit that, back then, had the situation been reversed (e.g., does the girl stay over at the boy's house because she's too tired to drive), then this might not have been workable. Because the girl's father was the house sheriff and had a lot at stake preventing the boyfriend from become the lover.
Suggest we all look up the term "bundling" and remind ourselves that even in the most faith-based cultures they realized that a certain level of intimacy was needed during courting. The Amish and other traditional sexts used to let the courting boy spend the night in bed with their girl. Various methods were used to prevent intercourse -- a bundling board was often placed in between them, and I was at one museum where they showed us a bundling nightgown, where the girls mother literally sewed her daughter into the nightgown so it couldn't come off until morning. Seems like a funny practice now but we can certainly understand the motivation.