Teens Telling parents

[Flicker]

I'd really like to tell my parents about my boyfriend. He's become a very important person to me, and it doesn't feel right hiding something like that from them. Now, they're not the type of people who would panic and take away my computer. I haven't been in a serious "real life" relationship, but as far as I know, they would be fine with me dating him if we lived close together. They know I've been in short relationships online before. My main concern is that they might not take it seriously, or they might not be supportive - and might even encourage me to break up with him. Half of this is probably me being paranoid. I know I'll have to tell them at some point. It's just the "how" and "when" that I'm worried about, and I'm worried that I might mess up if I do it wrong. For those of you who've told your parents...how did you do it? What did you say? What was their response?

[BlueCat]

I was 18 when I told my parents about my online relationship. It was my first relationship, which made it very daunting, and the whole living internationally and meeting online thing was very scary in regards to telling them. What I did, was invite a close friend over. So it was my friend, myself and my mum eating dinner and I suppose while having a friend there probably helps to not have your parents go off at you, it also gave me the extra strength (and the shove) I needed to actually spill the beans. I can't remember what I said, but my mum was quietly surprised, I think she asked me a few questions and that was that. I don't think it was really mentioned again until I asked her if my SO could come for a visit. She was surprisingly quick to respond that she was ok about it, which indicates to me that she'd probably been thinking about it a lot and had talked it over with her partner at the time. She told me that I couldn't know if I was going to like him unless I met him, so that was that. She did also ask what I would do if he "smelled funny" lol, because she said some people just naturally have a funny smell. Haha, I had to laugh at that, but told her I would worry about it if he actually did smell funny, lol.

[teachernicole]

My parents were harsh about it. I think I had kind of a bad case, not to scare you! You just have to be prepared. I was 16 when I met my SO online and they were not having it haha. I just had to show them that I was approaching it as an adult and ready to compromise with them. They had rules for me until then! If you approach is seriously and maturely, I'm sure you won't have problems. You have to know and understand that if they are skeptical about it, they are trying to protect you (it took me 2 years to get that through my head, learn from me!). Work with them and compromise. Involve them and keep them updated. It worked out for me

[mllebamako]

I don't think there is any "right" way of telling, YOU know your parents best and, from what you said, it seems like they'll be understanding about it. Even if they don't take it seriously in the beginning, once they start hearing about your relationship on a regular basis and they maybe meet him on skype, they'll see that it's real and meaningful.

Be prepared for them to be skeptical at first and then give them time to get used to it.
Good luck!

[Flicker]

Well, I told them. Oddly enough, they were the ones who asked me about it. I'm not certain how they knew, since as far as I know, they don't look at my computer or phone. My mother was a bit unsure about the age difference, but other than that, there were no problems. She felt much better when I mentioned I had done video chats with him, so I knew he was a real person. It certainly went better than I expected. Now I just hope my boyfriend's parents are the same way. Thanks for the help!

[JeCummings]

Good luck.

[ThothCreamPioneer]

Good luck, or as we say in Japanese, UDACHI!! :-)