There comes a time for every parent when a decision has to be made: enjoy a weekend away from the grind of your household and the mood swings of your teenager, or spend the entire time worrying that he or she is burning your house down. While most parents don't have anything to worry about, it is practically a rite of passage for teenagers left home alone to have some sort of small party.

The only trouble is that sometimes these small parties turn into major blowouts, and lead to accidents or dangerous situations. And since even if you are out of town, your name is still on that mortgage, it is your responsibility to make sure that nothing bad happens in your house.

The best thing to do for your home security and general peace of mind is to instill in your child the notion that it is a huge responsibility to be left in charge of the house. In fact, you cannot legally, as an adult, leave your child in charge of the entire house until he or she is 16 in most states, minimally. So always have open communication where you make it clear that even for an evening, getting to stay home alone is a huge responsibility, and also a privilege that can be revoked at any time.

The next most important thing to do is go over a step-by-step list of keeping the house safe. This includes knowing how to arm and disarm the home alarm system, never giving the passcode out to anyone, even friends, and locking all doors and windows. Be sure to leave your teenager with a number to call of a trusted neighbor or relative, and don't think twice about getting in touch with that neighbor or trusted relative and letting them know that you are doing that. After all, there is nothing wrong about having someone check up on your house--and your teenager

While your main concern might be home security and the well-being of your child, he might have other ideas--mainly partying. While it might sound a little bit counterintuitive, the thing that parents should be worried about the most is a party that goes out of control, not your teenager breaking smaller rules and having some friends or a significant other over. After all, teenagers always end up seeing their significant others anyway, and that is a whole different world of trouble from an epic kegger that gets the cops called. Stress the consequences of such a party, and make it clear that there are other people around who will be checking in and reporting back to you.

Movies and television might say otherwise, but most well-adjusted teenagers won't go through the trouble of having a blowout where half of the high school gets invited to come destroy your entire house. If you make it really clear that there are lots of responsibilities at hand and things to do, your teenager might be so busy remembering to water the plants and set the home alarm system that he or she won't really have time to do much else besides have some friends over, stay up way too late, and watch some television or movies of questionable taste. And for anyone who was young once, that's an altogether superior way of spending time than accidentally wrecking the house and angering the neighborhood.