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Should mom tell about teen's risky business?

By Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

Dear Amy: My 18-year-old daughter and I had dinner with another mother and her daughter recently. We've known one another since the girls were in kindergarten.

The daughters went to different high schools and aren't terribly close, but we still see them on occasion and consider them friends. The mother and I are closer than the girls are.

Both girls are preparing to attend college out of state.

Away from the dinner table, in private, the other girl told my daughter that she is on Tinder and "flirts" with an older man. She says the man is 27.

She told my daughter that she sends him nude pictures of herself, and he sends her sexually explicit pictures of himself.

My daughter is shocked by this. I'm not sure how common this sort of thing is with young women their age. Should I tell my friend what my daughter reported?

 

I would really appreciate your advice.

-- Wondering Mom

Dear Wondering: If you and this other mother are close friends, you need to approach this by asking yourself if you would want this sort of information about your own daughter. (I would, by the way.)

Both girls are headed to college, where presumably they will each have the freedom to make all sorts of choices -- good and bad. As they head out into the world, parents should arm them with as much guidance and wisdom as they can manage.

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