Anyone Remember The Chaperone Thing?

by Englishman 39 Replies latest jw friends

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  Englishman

  Back when I was a lusty young lad of 17, a certain Sister caught my eye - I swear that she could make her eyelashes beckon - and I duly decided to pay court to said Sister.

  However, it was not to be so simple. Round about that time, it would have been mid-60's, the WTBTS were having a real downer on anyone who wore a short skirt (not me), danced The Twist or grew their hair (me) over their ears.

  But, the worse thing was still to come. Folks, I am talking about

  CHAPERONING!

  I kid you not, unmarried couples couldn't go anywhere unless they were accompanied by a chaperone, lest there lustful desires overcame them and they fell into sin. Even visiting the cinema required a chaperone, as for being in a car alone with a sister, WoW! Mega reproof a-coming!

  Chaperoning was one of those things that the Brits eventually decided to ignore, except for fuddy duddy daddies who were making sure that their Li'l ladies stayed pure, it faded away by around '72.

  So, I was wondering, is this chaperoning rule still put into force by modern JW's, and also, has anyone got any interesting chaperoning tales to tell? Like when couples used to go out in foursomes to chaperone each other?

  Englishman.

  Nostalgia isn't what it used to be....
• 

  nativenyr23

  oh i remember the chaperoning thing VERY WELL!

  this is how bad it was.....i was engaged to be married and my fiancee and I were NOT ALLOWED to go to the Tuxedo shop to pick out the tuxes w/out a chaperone!

  that load of crap is exactly that....they can't watch you for the entire 24 hrs a day! If you're TRUELY faithful, you don't need someone to chaperone you. Your conscience should be your chaperone!

  Typical Watchtower KGB mentality!
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  drahcir yarrum

  Eman:

  I remember chaparoning as well. I also remember that if you became engaged to marriage and broke off the engagement, you could be disfellowshipped. I'll bet this rule contributed to some miserable marriages in the long run.
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  Simon

  We had the chaperone thing and that was only five years or so ago.

  Mind you, my younger brother was hopeless - get him playing on the computer or playstation and you could be gone for hours before he'd notice
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  badwillie

  Hey Englishman,
  I used to live in London, now I'm back home in Philadelphia.
  When my wife and I were courting (dating) we never had a problem going out alone in London (she's British), but back here in my congregation we were disciplined by the elders for not having chaperones..what a damn joke! You really brought back these ridiculous memories.
  - BadWillie.
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  Angharad

  5 YEARS??? Simon can't even remember how long we have been married, it will be 7 years in April[8>]
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  JanH

  Well, we were supposed to have a chaperone

  My dad was a great chaperone. When I was alone with my gf in my room upstairs, he made sure he stomped hard in the stairs, yelled "I am coming up!" very loud several times, and used so much time there was no problem getting dressed in time! Even then, he knocked on the door and waited for me to open it.

  Hey, he had married just a few years earlier himself, and assumed (correctly) that me and him were not that unlike each other in that respect!

  - Jan
  --
  "Doctor how can you diagnose someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and then act like I had some choice about barging in here right now?" -- As Good As It Gets
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  nelly136

  nup it was still alive and well down here when I left about 83 ish,
  and apparently my mother couldnt be trusted to stay in the same house as her fiance while they were 'courting' and they must have been in their 50's,he didnt want long engagement either
  nelly
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  Angharad

  I had a friend, who wasn't even allowed to talk to her boyfriend on the phone without one of her parents present! I wonder why that relationship didn't last five minutes.
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  DIM

  what part of philly you from badwillie? i'm in philly too

  i remember when my wife were dating in 1997, my future brother in law thought that we weren't under the proper supervision and he decided to tattle on me to my bookstudy conductor. the funny part is - we hadn't done anything (that anybody knew about, at least). what a joke.