Mom, Can I go to an all-Weekend Party?

Our 16 year old son came home last Friday with an invitation to attend a party from a girl in his class whose name I had heard before. What was a shocker to me was that the invitation was for both Friday & Saturday. In other words, it was an overnight party for a mixed group of kids. After I got over my initial speechlessness, I was unsuccessful at getting any real additional information from him. So, I simply said “no”. He & I then discussed the unfairness of life for 10 – 15 minutes which ended with him leaving the room apparently frustrated with me as a mother. I tried to explain that nothing good could come out of an overnight party of 16 year old guys & girls. He accused me of a lack of trust. I blocked him with some well placed info on brain development, stating that it was not him I did not trust, it was the collection of inactive prefrontal cortexes & overactive amygdalas. That did not sit well, either. He stayed mad at me for the rest of that evening. And, he did end up going to the party but we picked him up at midnight. (Somebody’s mom & dad owe us big!)