Many regrets, to be honest
Started drinking and having sex at 13, sniffing petrol and other inhalants at 14, magic mushrooms at 15 and it all went downhill from there.

Coincidentally, i was also gonna start teenagers thread. My son will be 14 in July and has already run the gamut of teenagery things, and I am keeping a very beady eye on him. When i was growing up, being a teenager, i lived with my gran and granda, who where a generation away from me and my exploits. With me and my son, I know exactly the sort of shit that is going on in his mind and can preempt the type of caper he will be getting up to and hopefully corrale him into a more mature way of dealing with things, people and situations he will inevitably find himself in.

Went home yesterday to find the back door unlocked, the bathroom window wide open and 2 fag ends in the toilet. I phoned him and he claimed it was his pal who had smoked them. I countered with he could not prove this and I couldn't prove he DID have one of the fags himself. His belligerence was astounding, however, no internet for a week will hopefully cool his jets.

Teenagers = a right royal pain in the fucking arse.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 10:24, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Good luck mate
I am afeared of what I may have to expect from my 'broken home, raised in the East End' daughter. Petrified.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 11:03, Reply)

Kidnap her and remove her to your Northern Fastness.
Southern pansies would not dare follow you.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Tue 13 Apr 2010, 11:07, Reply)

I think the main thing is to raise them well in the first place
Instilling in them a sense of self and the difference between right and wrong is obvious stuff, but you have to be committed and keep to your guns. I have been telling him since Primary 1 that he is responsible for his own actions, and the sooner he understands this the sooner he will grow up.

Therefore, yesterday, when i confronted him about the fag ends and he says "It wasn't my fault, it was X who smoked them", my head just dipped. I was wasting my time it seemed when I said that it was in fact HIM who allowed his pal to smoke then in the house and that it indeed was COMPLETELY his fault. There was a flicker of recognition, then it faded, to be replaced by "It wasn't my fault", in a slightly more whining voice. I just closed my door at that point.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 11:25, Reply)

From experience
the 'quietly disappointed' stance is infinitely more effective than 'clearly angry'....
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 14:20, Reply)

Yes, that worked for me
However, the vast majority of the time my son refuses to accept that X situation is clearly his fault. Eg, losing his keys, going out leaving the back door open, 'big boys' forcing him to drink a can of cider up the park. It is as if he is an innocent spectator to the gradual unfolding of his own life.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 14:33, Reply)