Before I came to the US for the first time as an exchange student I (as well as every other exchange student going over here with that organization or any other one for that matter) attended a 'seminar' on what to expect and the differences in cultures etc. After I returned I attended them as a councelor. One of the things (asides from different rules on dating, obviously no alcohol while here etc) that stood out the most to me was that we were told NOT to close the door to our room unless it was normal for that family as well. Especially if we had a visitor of the opposite sex. It always caused a big reaction because it just is normal for 16, 17 year-olds to close the door to their room if they have someone over whether it is a boy or a girl. So were you allowed to close your door or not?

ours had to stay open:yes

As a kid?
I could keep my door closed if I had a girl over. If I had a boy over then no. It was always to be open and usually they werent even allowed IN my room. I only was allowed to have a boy IN my room if the door was wide open and we were listening to music or something. Otherwise we had to be in the family room where the TV was etc But if it were just me or I had a girlfriend over then yeah my door could be closed

Any true blooded American I've ever met has had (or still has) a "KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING" sign emblazoned on their door by the age of 12. I have never once been told by any of my parents to keep my door open.

Now, from the exchange student standpoint, I can this being taught as a means of showing trust. If you walk into a new house in a foreign country and walk into your room and close the door, this may make the host family feel uncomfortable - after all, YOU are the guest in their house. I can see it, but I would NEVER tell a foreign exchange student in my house to keep the door open - that would make the student feel like I was a perv or something.

But then again, I've only had a person of the opposite sex over to my house on one occasion, and that was my 14th birthday. That poor girl never stood a chance... My parents were pretty protective of me. (added that last sentence cuz Kristi said it made that girl look like a hussy)

Had to be open.

Honestly- I can't remember them asking for it to be open..........because I always had it open!!

I slept with it open, hung out with it open, had sleep overs with it open. I have never liked the feeling of "shutting out" my family-so I always kept it open lol. But yeah- last year I just wanted more privacy.

My older sister Amy was always asked to keep the door open, that's only if a guy was in the room though.

I didn't mean situations in which you are alone but when you had someone over. Were you as a teenager allowed to have a girl/boy over and close the door to your room for privacy

I didn't mean situations in which you are alone but when you had someone over. Were you as a teenager allowed to have a girl/boy over and close the door to your room for privacy

Yep I could. If it was a girl then I was allowed to. If it was a boy then no

Well what I was trying to say was- because my door was never closed, they never had to ask. But my sister was asked all the time.

As a kid?
I could keep my door closed if I had a girl over. If I had a boy over then no. It was always to be open and usually they werent even allowed IN my room. I only was allowed to have a boy IN my room if the door was wide open and we were listening to music or something. Otherwise we had to be in the family room where the TV was etc But if it were just me or I had a girlfriend over then yeah my door could be closed

Exactly the same for me to a T

Hmm, from what I remember I don't think it was ever an issue for my parents, whether I closed it or not.

Any true blooded American I've ever met has had (or still has) a "KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING" sign emblazoned on their door by the age of 12. I have never once been told by any of my parents to keep my door open.

Now, from the exchange student standpoint, I can this being taught as a means of showing trust. If you walk into a new house in a foreign country and walk into your room and close the door, this may make the host family feel uncomfortable - after all, YOU are the guest in their house. I can see it, but I would NEVER tell a foreign exchange student in my house to keep the door open - that would make the student feel like I was a perv or something.

But then again, I've only had a person of the opposite sex over to my house on one occasion, and that was my 14th birthday. That poor girl never stood a chance... My parents were pretty protective of me. (added that last sentence cuz Kristi said it made that girl look like a hussy)

yeah but your a male...my brothers didnt have the same rules as I did...I was the only one who couldnt shut the door if there was a male in my room and ONLY if I was allowed to have him in there in the 1st place....my brothers didnt have the same rules as I...parents are always worried about their daughters :)

my door in my room was pretty much always open unless i was sleeping. i never really felt the need to have it closed. boys were allowed over to my house but never allowed upstairs in my house-where my room was-so that wasn't even a question. i always have slept with my door closed for as long as i can remember.

I wans't allowed to have boys in my room. The FIRST time I had a male in my room(other than family) was when Jer(then DB, becoming DF that weekend) walked in to get my camping gear for me...and my brother was standing in the doorway talking to us the whole time.

That was never an issue when it came to boys...they were not allowed in our rooms. As far as having a girl over..we could shut our door. Door being open or close was never a rule in our house no matter if my parents kept their door open or not.

I was never allowed to have boys in my room unless it was my cousins or something. I was allowed to close the door if I had a girl over, but not a boy. If a boy was over I usually stayed in the living room or outside.

closed for a girl, open for a boy. =]

I wasn't allowed to have boys in my room, period. If a girlfriend came over, we could shut the door, no problem.

Its pretty much all the same as above for me as well. No boys. Haha. Really though, I hardly ever had anyone over, if we werent playing outside, but no boys were allowed in the room, until I got older, then we had to keep the door open. And girls we're never a problem, they could stay with the door closed.

I could close my door with guests whether they were boys or girls. My parents even allowed me to have a boy sleepover for the first time on xmas when I was 15. He was SUPPOSED to sleep on the floor though. :lol

as someone under the age of 17 with a boy: nope i wasn't even allowed to have boys in my room but after 17 i was allowed boys in my room with the door shut. girls in there my family never cared.

I always had my door closed regardless of who was over. If a boy was over they wanted it open but then i closed it because i had a little brother running around that was annoying. So they just came in and checked on me every now and then.

If there was a boy in my room my door had to be opened... hell we werent even allowed i my room.

Mine had to stay open. I make my kids keep theirs open as well.

Boys were not even allowed to see my room. They had to say in the den.

As a kid?
I could keep my door closed if I had a girl over. If I had a boy over then no. It was always to be open and usually they werent even allowed IN my room. I only was allowed to have a boy IN my room if the door was wide open and we were listening to music or something. Otherwise we had to be in the family room where the TV was etc But if it were just me or I had a girlfriend over then yeah my door could be closed

That's how I was raised as well, and that's how we're raising the girls.

I was not allowed to have boys over but when I had girls it did not matter

If it was a girl or just a guy friend my parents generally let me close my door. My dad was a bit more anal about guy friends than my mom though. Half the time I'd close it to but not completely shut it. If it was a boyfriend though that door stayed open or I would have been in deep crap :lol

I was pretty much like everyone else. If a girl was over I could do what ever I wanted if my boyfriend was over the door had to be open. It didn't matter to much though because they way our house was even if the door was open the only way to see in the room was to walk in. My mom didn't like me to have company so I wasn't home very much.

Well no boys allowed in my room period, at that age. but with girl friends door could stay open.

No boys allowed!!!! At least that was how things started. I had an interesting teen age life that I do not care to go into right now. But our children will be raised the same no one of opposite sex will be allowed in the room withthe door closed.......if they are ever allowed in the room :devil

No I didnt have to keep my door open.

Boys aren't allowed upstairs unless we're playing pool or darts with my parents, so, assuming somehow a boy finagled his way up here, I assume the door would have to be open. This rule still stands, and I'm almost 19. As far as when I have girl friends over my parents could care less.

As far as with my kids, I'm pretty sure boys aren't going to be allowed into my little girl's room either. :)

At 16/17 yrs old, yes, I was allowed to close the door. Younger than that, no, I was not allowed to close the door.

i wasn't even allowed to have boys IN my room until DH (back then db/df), that was when i was 20! when he came to visit on leave and told my mom we were engaged she said she didn't care if we slept in the same room.

his parents let us stay in the same room when we went to visit them once. there were 2 twin beds lol, they didn't stay separated for long. i know if we had gone to visit my dad before we were married we would've had to sleep in separate rooms.

ETA: if it was just one of my female friends over, we could be in my room and close the door.

I never had anyone over until I was 17. I didn't have a rule about that. My kids will have to leave their doors open because I don't want them doing the same thing I did with my door closed.

MY door had to stay open if I had somone of a different sex. That is when they were even allowed to go into my room. Most of the time they were not allowed anywhere around my bedrooom.

ours had to stay open but we always hung out w/ my parents or in the back yard so it wasnt like i was hiding anything

If I had a boy over and he was in my room the door had to be open. If I had a girl over then no it could be closed. If I was alone it didn't matter.

guys weren't allowed in my room.

however, we were allowed in my basement rec room... so that is hilarious.

If we were in the rec room doing something we shouldnt be we'd have from the time we heard the door open til they were all the way down the stairs. whereas in my bedroom as soon as they flung open the door they'd be there :lol

their logic, not so good.

I had male and female friends over all the time and I could always close my door. Just couldn't lock it even though sometimes I did because I didn't want my siblings coming right in whenever they wanted lol. I had 2 guys in my room once and my mom didn't care. I guess cuz she trusted one of them a lot... he was my best friend and was very protective of me. :shrug For me I'd probably make it where they can close the door for the same sex but if it's opposite sex then they have to keep the door atleast partly open. I'll figure it out when I have kids most likely though cuz things can always change. :D

Boys were never allowed in my room.If it was a girl over I could close my door.The rules were different for my brother he could have girls over and in his room with the door closed.

If I had a girl over than it could be closed. However, if it was a boy then it had to stay open. Also, the times that I was even allowed to have a boy in my room were extremely far and few between. I can count them on one hand.

Girls it could be closed.

I didn't have a tv or anything in my room so there wasn't really an excuse to be in there. We had to stay in the living room with everyone else. When I was like 17, my brother started having his girlfriend in his room to watch movies since he did have a tv in there and his door always had to be open. My mom THEN told me I could have [now DH] in my room, the door just had to stay open.

Now DH's mom is an immigrant from England and his dad grew up in the hippie days so they were pretty laid back. They allowed the door to be closed regardless of who was in the bedroom for both DH and his sister....And that's where DH and I got into all our "trouble." ;) When my mom found out, she said I was only allowed over there if DH's door stayed open, but we got around that. His parents didn't care that much...

Having the door open or closed was never an issue in our house. We were allowed to have girls and boys in our room, and the door could be closed or open. In fact, once we all hit our teenage years, our doors were almost always shut if we were in there by ourselves or with friends.

As a kid?
I could keep my door closed if I had a girl over. If I had a boy over then no. It was always to be open and usually they werent even allowed IN my room. I only was allowed to have a boy IN my room if the door was wide open and we were listening to music or something. Otherwise we had to be in the family room where the TV was etc But if it were just me or I had a girlfriend over then yeah my door could be closed

That's how it was when I lived at my great-aunts house, even though I was over 18. My ex wasn't allowed in my room (I broke that rule) and if we went to hang in the living room upstairs, my great-aunt would flip out and tell us to come downstairs. If we were having a party, like there was pretty much every weekend, it was not an issue since other people would be upstairs too. I guess that would be why we never hung out at the house.

Boys were not allowed in my room until I was 18 and even then the door had to stay open and if it didnt my dad took the door OFF! He stopped after 20 though.

We could close our door if we wanted, it was never an issue..