I boarded from 7-18. Family lived abroad. My prep school was very gentle and nurturing but between 13-18 we all became quite wild - lots of drinking, smoking, etc.
My dd is now 15 and I've realised that i am slightly adrift when it comes to knowing how to parent a teenager. Because by her age I wasn't really patented myself.
I was very independent at her age - would fly home by myself, learned to budget pocket money to last all term, we all did our own laundry (although school shirts were sent off), and could go for weeks without phoning home.
I think this is reflected in my parenting now - I'm aware her friends parents are far more nagging re homework & revision, letting them know where they are going out, etc.
We do have a really good close bond but she often tells me my attitude is very different to her friends parents, and I've been thinking about why this is, and thought that maybe it could be a reflection of my experience of being her age and just being left to get on with things myself.