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For generations teenage girls have flocked to Beatles and Bowie concerts and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." But parents and teens are navigating a more complicated scene at today's techno-music gatherings.
The parties run later, the drugs are more powerful and the range of ages often wider these days.
Music gatherings, such as the all-ages event before Saturday's shooting, also can bring together a wide range of problems for teenage girls that test the skills of the best parents, according to family therapists.
The two youngest victims in the Capitol Hill rampage were girls -- 14 and 15 years old.
Teenage girls are drawn to raves for the age-old reasons: They want to be treated like adults and crave the privileges adults enjoy, said Karen Anderson, a Seattle psychologist who has spent the past 30 years working with adolescent girls.
The problem is the girls are often not ready for that freedom, Anderson said.
Ready or not, raves and similar parties are established stops on the social landscape.
While Anderson may not agree that young teenage girls should attend raves, she has a few tips for their parents.
They need to research parties and find out if the promoters hired monitors. Saturday's event ended peacefully and employed a team of security guards. The shooting occurred at a separate party later in the evening.
In addition, it's a good idea to drop your kids off and pick them up, Anderson said.
Seattle therapists offered a list of other tips:
Check in with your kids every hour, or at least ever few hours.
Set curfews.
Wait for your kids to return home, then check for signs of drinking and drug use.
Make your position on drug use and after-parties crystal clear.
"Clearly you want to be having discussions about this not on the evening of the rave," said Dr. Jeff Lindenbaum, director of Teen Health Services at Group Health Cooperative.
In the end, parents must rely on the traditional, and often most difficult, parenting skill: talking to their kids. "I do think parents just have to follow their gut instinct," Lindenbaum said.
Raves can offer protection not found at unsupervised keg parties, parking lots and other teen hangouts. The parties can come with insurance policies and security charged with helping to keep kids safe.
Rave culture can have a sense of family or community. Veteran ravers often look after newbies in the scene, and older participants may be referred to as "rave moms" and "rave dads." These folks tend to keep an eye on younger partygoers, pointing them to the more reputable events to attend, sometimes helping them find safe places to hang out after raves and hooking them up with rides home.
"I think it's important for young people to express and to define themselves, and be in a safe space to interact creatively with their peers," said Jordan Howland, a former volunteer at the Capitol Hill Arts Center, the site of Saturday's rave..
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