They're at a stage in life when they're beginning to explore and experiment with behaviors that can have a major impact on their lives now and in the future. Unfortunately, the age when teens first start experimenting with sex, drugs, cigarettes and alcohol has dropped steadily over the years so that these behaviors are no longer rare among kids in middle school. Older adolescents, too, continue to need close adult supervision, although in a different form. They're also at risk for becoming involved in similar problem behaviors, but with driving and a more active and independent social life, they have even more exposure to potentially risky situations like parties with alcohol and illegal drugs. Ironically, adolescence is the very time that many parents believe they should decrease their supervision of their children.
Parents loosen their supervision for many different reasons.
Some because they are uncertain how to best respond to their teens' bids for independence. It's true that adolescents need to be permitted and even encouraged to take a greater role in making decisions that affect them and to assume more responsibility for different aspects of their lives. But your teenagers still need you to be a parent not a friend. Despite their protests to the contrary, teens need parents to be involved in their lives, aware of their activities and whereabouts, and firm with rules - especially those that involve safety issues like drugs, alcohol, curfews and driving. While parents should not strive to be their teens' friends, at the same time they need to practice friendly parenting.