Connolly suggests encouraging your child to hang out with their friends at your house where you can monitor them and watch them interact.
Despite the lack of commitments, kids are still gaining something from the experience - they are learning.
This learning phenomenon seems to carry over to all teens, regardless of their sexual orientation.
It also seems that peers play a role in holding adolescents back from going further.
"Although it varies by group, girls especially tend to have their own guidelines and rules that tend to limit extensive sexual relationships," says Connolly.
Putting limits on what kids can do gives them time to understand in a more relaxed and informal setting, while giving them the confidence and skills they will need to move away from group settings.
Like adults, most kids think their peers are having more sex than they actually are.
"But I didn't start dating until I was 18," says Mom. According to one survey, nearly half of teens between the ages of 11 to 14 years old are dating.
More and more parents are faced with this dilemma today.
In another study Connolly found that 15% of teens are in dating relationships that are recurrently aggressive and that the violence tends to increase in a second relationship.
"If you see physical bruises, it is quite serious abuse, but more often it is much more minor." Pushing, shoving, aggressive, and controlling behaviour are more common.
There is interest, but they are not coupled up, which is normal.