Parents In Germany Fined For Something I Never Want To Think Of My Kids Doing

Parents in Bavaria have been fined 3,000 euro for allowing their 13-year-old daughter to have sex with her 16-year-old boyfriend. I’m all sorts of hand-wringy about these types of situations because I still haven’t fully accepted that I will be parenting TWO teenagers some day.

The girl went to her parents and admitted she was planning on having sex with her boyfriend. The parents insist they tried to talk her out of it – but failed. They decided the best bet was to get her on birth control. The mother claims she was unaware that sex under the age of 14 is considered a criminal offense, “You can’t stop hormones,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the local prosecutor’s office said they had never come across a similar case.

“They [the parents] were only prosecuted because they knew what their daughter was doing and it was brought to our attention,” she told The Local. “We had no choice but to prosecute once we knew.”

The Passauer Neue Presse reported that the case only came to light when the boyfriend appeared in court over a separate matter.

This is tough. My knee-jerk reaction is grounding my daughter for her remaining adolescent years. Eve says she would get her therapy because Eve smarter than me and a better parent. Our boss Meghan would never leave them alone with each other, and Bethany says “open door policy,” so clearly Bethany is going to be the “cool mom.”

I think it is really naive to think that you can stop a headstrong teenager from doing anything, but I may treat it like one of those driver’s ed classes you take in high school; you know – the one that takes you to jail and then to the morgue? But instead I would make her watch marathons of 16 and Pregnant and carry one of those WerePups around with her everywhere she goes. I’m making light of this to keep from crying, because I find all the decisions that teenagers have to face and navigate truly terrifying. How did any of us make it through?

As far as fining these parents goes – I got nothing. I’m too busy worrying about how I’m going to deal with this to judge the way someone else did.

(photo: Getty Images)