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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to ask what things you did as a teenager but would be horrified by if your DCs did them now?

133 replies

BowieFan · 12/10/2016 17:42

I'll start:

*Smoking when I was about 15
*Drinking when I was about 14
*Copping off with lads
*Immediately taking off my sensible skirt when I got round the corner and changing into a leather mini skirt and heels at my friend's house...
*Getting arrested for throwing eggs at John Major (actually, I'd be proud of the kids if they did that to David Cameron!)

I wasn't a wild child, honest!

OP posts:
HighwayDragon1 · 12/10/2016 17:47

Drinking / drugs at 14
Sex and contact at 14
Getting pissed on all nighters and sleeping in skips
Creeping boys into my room (ground floor room)

myfriendnigel · 12/10/2016 17:47

Id sooner they didn't sneak around in hay barns with young farmers at a ludicrous young age as I did. It probably wasn't the best idea with hindsight Grin

StrawberryQuik · 12/10/2016 17:48

Aged around 17 I remember being at a house party somewhere in mid Sussex and it rapidly going south. My friends and I decided to leave and walked about an hour through the countryside at 2am to get to the nearest train station and wait for the first train at 5am. Still can't decide if we were sensible or daft.

alltouchedout · 12/10/2016 17:56

Smoke (I was 11), drink to excess (from 14 or so), take drugs (from about 15), concoct elaborate lies to stay out all night, go to dangerous places with dangerous people, put myself on a strict 1 meal a day diet, steal.

Meandyouandyouandme · 12/10/2016 17:56

I used to hitchhike home from uni to save money, I wasn't scared, my friend told me to always get in a lorry as that's more conspicuous so unlikely to get attacked. Would be horrified if my DC did this now!

Laiste · 12/10/2016 17:57

Sex at 14.
Hanging about literally on the streets in central London so late at night that i'd miss the last train.
Travelling alone in tube train carriages at night and getting sexually hastled by weirdos.
Going back to random's houses and drinking.

chosenone · 12/10/2016 17:59

Similar. Drinking and smoking from Year 9 and some drug use from Year 11. A lot of 'mass skives' off school. Approx 10 teenagers spending thewhole day on someones house whilst they were at work!! Including mine! We all did magic mushrooms Confused pretending to sleep at friends and going to parties and spending a night in a train station with friend and random boys!

ClopySow · 12/10/2016 18:00

Drinking at 12, taking drugs at 16, getting fingered behind the youth club at 15.

Laiste · 12/10/2016 18:00

Oh, and i used to let one of my toe rags of a boyfriend persuade me to get into cars he'd just nicked and go for drives around the city Hmm

treaclesoda · 12/10/2016 18:04

So so many. Largely down to lack of confidence though, rather than stupidity.

I hope my children are more secure and assertive than I was.

exLtEveDallas · 12/10/2016 18:04

Smoking, drinking and shagging. Christ I'd have a heart attack if I caught DD acting the way I did. I bloody hope she holds onto her childhood longer than I did.

formerbabe · 12/10/2016 18:07

My dad would always give me money for a taxi home, but I'd spend it and end up walking back in the early hours of the morning.

Getting into unlicensed "taxis" outside of nightclubs. Just imagining my dd doing that makes my blood run cold.

chinam · 12/10/2016 18:08

Joined a cult -just to be different, as you do.

19lottie82 · 12/10/2016 18:10

Smoking (12), Drinking (13), Weed (14), speed, acid, ecstasy (16), clubbing (15), shagging (16).......

I have a DSD that is 16 and I hope she hasn't done more than a couple of cans of cider and snogging!

MerlinsBeard87 · 12/10/2016 18:11

When I was about 13 I used to go into town with my friends and shoplift. I'm so ashamed of that! It was really out of character for me, I was an introverted geeky girl at school. I think it was wanting to look cool and peer pressure. I'm so lucky I wasn't caught, a criminal record might have affected uni applications and jobs

PacificOcean · 12/10/2016 18:12

The stupidest thing I ever did was when me and my friend spent the night in a complete stranger's flat in Amsterdam aged 17. We were inter railing, couldn't find a place to stay and literally met him on the street.

Katedotness1963 · 12/10/2016 18:17

Smoking, drinking, shoplifting, and, stupidest of all, getting into cars with drivers who had been drinking. One night I was getting a lift home from a guy who'd been drinking when he accidentally turned the headlights off. When he got them going again we were heading towards a wall on the wrong side of the road. Bit of an awakening that night!

passingthrough1 · 12/10/2016 18:19

Scary as I was a very boring teenager really but still the thought is horrifying - just things like going out and getting drunk as a young adult (generally over 18) with friends and walking home, getting lost, accepting help from strangers at 3am ... being so drunk at university that anything could have happened really ...

cricketballs · 12/10/2016 18:19

Started smoking at 11, drinking (including being blue lighted to hospital at 14) from 13, sex from 13, skiving school from 14, fighting from 12 but despite everything I did I never did drugs.

TBH I think this has made me a better parent and teacher as I've been there and done it

Original poster
BowieFan · 12/10/2016 18:20

I wouldn't want DS1 and DS2 to share a joint with Paula Yates at an INXS concert, but I think that's a bit unlikely to happen now!

That was the first and last time I'd ever done drugs. Actually, that's not true as someone once spiked our soup with LSD at a hippy festival in the late 90s. We only realised when DP kept asking why there were trails all around us...

If DS1 or DS2 made Skittle vodka at 15 I'd probably be quite worried. It was a regular drink for us on weekends! (I'd be worried because it seems like far too much effort when you can get pissed on Jaeger bombs in less time these days).

OP posts:
Original poster
BowieFan · 12/10/2016 18:22

cricketballs

Yes, I agree with you there. I've had all the experiences (I did go to Uni during the 90s when rave culture was massive) so I know how to advise them. That's why I don't mind them having a few cans of cider at a house party - I know it's not going to kill them and the hangover they get from drinking too much the first time will more than punish them into staying within their limits. Plus, since I've done things like copping off with lads, smoking and all that, I can tell them it's really not worth it.

OP posts:
sandbagsatdawn · 12/10/2016 18:27

Haven't read the thread, but inviting the rough (but sexy) boys who worked on the fairground back to my parents' holiday flat where I was staying with two girl friends from school aged 17 springs to mind. We were fairly good girls actually (hence why trusted us with the flat for a weekend) didn't actually do anything naughty with said boys but still.

ItShouldHaveBeenJess · 12/10/2016 18:28

Also part of the rave scene, so speed, acid, ecstasy, Mushies and a fair few bottles of 20/20 in between... Was a very chaste 19 before other stuff happened, though Wink

I have no regrets (but I was lucky - getting into random lads' cars to drive twenty miles to an outdoor party didn't worry me in the slightest back then) but I'd be terrified if my DN (12) was doing the same, let alone DS (4) in a few years time.

Can't decide if I'll end up being a hypocrite or a wise old bird with a bit of life experience. Thankfully have a few years to go - I hope!

claraschu · 12/10/2016 18:32

Not really in the spirit of this thread...but I wouldn't want my kids worrying about me and rushing home to try and keep me from getting drunk.

NightNightBadger19962 · 12/10/2016 18:37

Used to gather with random selection of youth on the Backs in Cambridge by the river in the dark to drink vodka and set fire to lighter fuel on people's legs. Age 15 ish. One time, the whole place was flooded up to our knees, but we just waded in and hung out there anyway. And possibly vandalised a bridge half heartedly once.