Hi, I (19f) am running into some problems dating while living with my jw mom. I am inactive but my mom still tolerates me and I continue to live with her somewhat normally. It also helps that my dad is atheist so I couldn’t really be put out because of religion. She does however try to guilt me, and overall treats me differently when I make decisions she doesn’t agree with. Her whole side of the family is jw as well and I know that if I make a big decision like getting a tattoo, I wont hear the end of it from them.

I recently started dating this guy and have been to his house a couple times. He normally picks me up and I tell my parents I’m out with some friends. My parents have recently gotten really suspicious of my friends because they have never met them. My mom is actually the reason why I still to this day do not have many worldly friends, so she is extra suspicious. It’s getting hard making excuses as to why they can’t meet these new friends that ive been hanging out with. Moving out is not an option for me right now but I still want to continue dating the guy Im seeing. If I tell my mom about him, she won’t want me going over his house and I know she is going to blabber to my family. I wont hear the end of the sarcastic remarks and guilting. Even if she does like him, she will continue to see him as a distraction or bad influence on me. Not to mention the fact that she’s probably going to start thinking im sexually active. If I don’t tell her, she’s going to grow more suspicious and angry at me. The best I can do is get a close coworker to cover for me, but I don’t think that will be enough for her. How did you secretly date as a jw?