Yeah. Of course.

It's just that shit's different with girls.

One day they're 12 and they're just playing around in the yard in the sprinkler no different than a 12 year old boy would. Everything's fine.

But it seems like the very next day they are 13 and grown-ass men creeping on them here and there. Had a varsity football player ask my girl out the summer before high school. There's a huge difference between 17 and 13. I told him I didn't think it was right. I don't care that I stepped in. She may have hit a growth spurt and looked older, but she was still 13...one step away from doing some stupid kid crap like licking the dog under the kitchen table or gluing bugs together or something. Not ready for a kid who already knows what college he's going to.

I don't think the idea is to be protective forever. At least it's not to me. The idea's not to have a celibate daughter or to put her in a convent. It's to keep the motherfucking predators away and let her have a childhood for a little while longer. Especially that first year when attention from boys (and men, unfortunately) starts coming in. Because at least in my daughter's case, she really didn't know how to handle it and what to do about it and it freaked her out. By 15, she sort of 'got it,' with help from mom, and had a boyfriend with a car and all that, and he was sweet and it was fine.

But make no mistake.

13, 14, 15 year olds aren't women.

They're not even people.

They're lovable little dummies who have no clue how deeply oblivious they are.

You've got to protect them, regardless of gender.

I wouldn't let an early teen daughter date a late teen boy any sooner than I'd let a 13 year old boy drive a car or play with guns and live ammo unsupervised.

It's not overcompensation.

It's reality.

The joys are fine.

But it's your job as a parent to minimize the pitfalls, especially the catastrophic ones.