I do think it is important to be honest, and one of the problems of being too strict is that the child may lie. We too had a pre-arranged "get me out of here" code, and we always said "do this, even if you have broken the rules, it is so much more important to be safe".
Letting them help make the rules can be useful as they do see the dangers - and in a changing world, maybe even better than parents can.
A colleague of mine was very strict with her children, so they never developed "street-wise" intelligence. There was a big family row about going to an Eminem concert at age 13, and she asked me to ask my kids - just a year or two older, and veteran concert & festival goers.
What made us smile was that my kids said "no way" should a 13 year old go to an Eminem concert!
I would always say as well that it is better to have a few, properly enforced rules than a lot of healf-hearted ones.
Another Tired Kicking For The Sick And Disabled By Rishi
Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell re-arrested over SNP finances.