I can totally understand about being cautious with their kids friends, you all might not understand it now but you have children you will. Now I know that I'm all for letting kids be themselves up to a point. If a kid wants to dye their hair or get a peircing and it can later be removed then I say go for it. As I said before I have tattoos, but that doesn't mean I'd let my kid get one until it was at least 18 because a tattoo is something that you can't easily get rid of. But growing up it didn't matter what my friends looks like or how well they did in school I was not allowed to hang out with them unless my parents met them. Which ment they came over to my house for dinner or something like that so my parents could get a chance to talk to them and see if they felt comfortable with them. While I know it's kind of a pain and you think you're parents should trust you, you need to see it from your parents point of view. Would you trust just anyone to take your dog on a walk? Well that's how your parents feel about you, they love you and don't want you to get hurt. I learned it's always easier to say ok and let them meet your friends because then the next time you want to go out with them there's no problem. It's so much better and easier than always fighting about it.