I was afraid. Speaking to thousands of parents each year I have realized that my fear is not mine alone. Many dads and moms are worried about their sons and daughters and dating.
People go out on dates today.
Once upon a time when the world was young and dinosaurs roamed the earth a guy would walk up to a girl he barely knew, look her nervously in the eye and ask her what she was doing on Friday night, and if she would be interested in doing something with him. This ancient ritual was known as a date. Ancient history, doesn't happen anymore. High school students today date largely within their friendship groups, rarely venturing outside of that group for a date. There often is never an official first date, just a moment when they started to hang out with each other more or less exclusively within the context of their friendship cluster.