My parents were the same as yours uabassoon. They wanted to meet and spend time with my friends before I was allowed to go out with them, over to their houses, or, later, to ride in cars that they drove. It seemed sooooo silly when I was a teenager, and i was always mortified by them and angry at their intrusions, and what I thought was their lack of trust of me...
Last month my nephew went to prom with an older girl and they had an "after party" at one of the friend's house... my sister and i called the house twice just to make sure the parents were there, and we both feel strongly about meeting and getting to know the friends before letting my nephew....well, you get the idea, turns out we don't think our parents were too strict after all...