What I just saw

[NorthernLiner]

... absolutely made my Monday morning.

Dropping off my DC at school and another car pulls up.
A 6th former gets out of the front passenger seat and his leg is in some kind of knee brace with lots of strapping.
As he is getting out, a friend of his comes up to the car, and opens the back door, gets out his friend's crutches, hands them to him and then reaches in again to get his friend's bag and automatically puts it over his own shoulder.
He is already carrying two of his own bags.
This all went on whilst the one with the knee brace is carrying on a conversation with his parent who is obviously in the driver's seat.
I'm sorry but I admit that little act of kindness made me a bit teary.
Especially with so many teenagers getting a bad rap nowadays.

Just thought I'd share.

That sounds lovely.
I once saw some teen lads helping a very young obviously teary eyes boy new student about to start year 7 with his kneck tie.
They stood in the street and had it done in a flash and walked him over the road to the school.
They was all from the same school looking at the uniforms.
But it was nice to see them rally and calm him down.

One of my boys had repeated surgeries and significant mobility issues. From age 7 to 18 his friends were sensitive, helpful and fiercely loyal.

Their tenderness, and fierce support made me well up many times.

That’s so lovely. The boy has great friends x

That's so lovely!

We recently had a tree removed from our garden by the council due to it breaking in a storm. They left behind all the bits they chopped off and chucked it over the fence (which leads to a park).

It was so nice on that following weekend to look outside and see a bunch of teenagers getting all excited over it as they built a fort out of it all. One of them came running over going "Mum said yes!" Whist carrying a huge blanket that they then draped over the top.

Nobody has moved it since and the same kids come back every weekend to hang out there and chat away.

That’s such a nice sight op. I love teenagers. This batch are so great.

Don’t, this thread is gonna make my cry in the dentist!! 😭

When I was a teacher, one of my tutor group was disabled, he’d had meningitis as a toddler and had his lower arm amputated, together with restricted growth and mild learning difficulties. It was a mainstream school and the boy did have a TA some of the time but he was fiercely independent and very popular. His prosthetic arm was very basic, it was just for appearances as the hand did not move and it made his stump rather sweaty. Most days he wore it for an hour or so then took it off. If the TA was not with him, one of his friends used to bring it to me to look after! Where ever I was in school, might have been teaching, on dinner duty, walking the corridor or in the staff room, a pupil would come running up to me, thrust the prosthetic arm at me then run off again, leaving me to carry the arm around until I could put it in my office!

That young boy could not have coped without his friends, they supported him to lead as normal a life as possible without making a fuss.

Such a nice thread!

I don't have a particular story but my DD is now 15. Teens get such a bad rap, thatI kept waiting for her to turn into a monster... and sure she rolls her eyes sometimes, doesn't say much often, and has the odd strop... but she also loves her little sister with a passion and is incredibly gentle with her, reads and thinks about philosophy, tidies the kitchen without a fuss, is pouring her energy into putting on a school concert with her rock band, and every day asks me how my day was.

Teens can be really good humans, despite all the changes they are dealing with.

Thanks for sharing your stories.

@CarrieOnComplaining I hope your lad is doing OK now. So nice to hear he had a fantastic support group of friends.

@pearbottomjeans hope you got on OK at the dentists!

Ah, thank you @NorthernLiner , doing very well, and still great friends from the little group of boys who made friends in Reception, supporting each other through thick and thin.

How lovely.

Me, DH, and DS 6 went for a walk at the weekend.

We got to a dodgy bit that involved quite a steep hill downwards. We weren't sure about it. How slippy it was, etc.

A group of teenage lads came past and started going down, so my DH asked them if it was slippy. They were so lovely. Reassured us it was okay and which rocks to stick to for the safest route down. Asked us if we were interested in WW2 as there were some old ruins to see if we made it down.

Really lovely interaction. It's a shame that they all get such a bad rap.

A younge lad of about 15 was in a wheelchair with MS.
His friends from Nursery would call for him , yes for 12 years an assortment of boys a big group, would collect him and care for him all day, several even took medical training so his mum would not worry.
He was taken on pub crawls and weekends away. He lived to 25, but the same friends gave him a life while they could.

Most teens are great - each of my kids has had really nice, kind friends.

When he was about 15/16, DS brought a friend home to hang out. I was in the kitchen and they came to see me. I was expecting them to ask what was for dinner. I was amazed when the friend thanked me for letting him come over and presented me with a Snickers! He'd asked DS4 what my favourite chocolate bar was ❤️

My other recent funny encounter was in the park walking the dog. I rounded the corner to see 4 tall, hood-up, pretty intimidating looking teens around a bench. As we got nearer one called out 'Miss, is that a Golden Retriever?' We stopped and they all petted the dog and as I walked away I could hear them chatting about what a great dog she was and how they loved GR's because they always look like they're smiling 😆 It was so unexpected and wholesome.

My 90 year old Mum went to the cashpoint at her local supermarket and withdrew a couple of hundred pounds (she likes to keep some cash at home). So, very windy day, a bit of arthritis and slippy new notes, she lost her grasp. Happily a group of teenage boys from the school next door ran after all the money and restored it to her, dashing off before she could thank/reward them. We dropped an email to the head.

I was working from home today and watched my 17yr old son and his best friend having a kick about in the street. A little toddler was walking along with her parents and was clearly interested in watching the boys. My son passed the ball to her very gently so she could kick it back - they did this three or four times and then the parents ushered her on and she went, waving madly at my son.

I was fighting back tears! It doesn't seem two minutes since he was three himself!

Ahh thank you for these. I was grumpy this morning after discovering my teen had left the kitchen a mess overnight, with a big block of cheese sitting out. This has revived me!