To ask what your teenage life was like?

[Laraloodoo]

Following a thread where I was told my teenage behaviour was abnormal by many’s standards I’m interested in all the different experiences we had growing up as teenagers.

Small market town in West Oxon.
Listened to a lot of music in my bedroom.
Went to Guides, Youth Church, out with friends. Never did anything remotely bad (drinking or smoking).
Then my Dad died when I was 16 and everything changed.
I look back on those years and feel so sorry for my DM left with a 16 year old, 14 year old and 17 year old to manage.

Mine was up and down. My brother had mental health issues and my mum couldn't cope (she either hid at work or got herself into masses of debt trying to bride him to go to school - only minor input/help from services back then). so I did a lot of the day to day bits - cooked, cleaned, looked after my younger sibling etc.... I did go to school but had a lot of time off. My dad worked long hours so didn't see much of him.

I was lucky to have a couple of good friends to go out with and escape with - lots of drinking but nothing else. Life got so much better during my second year away at university.

Mine consisted of a suicide attempt and a teenage pregnancy in between the clubbing .
Sad but true

Privileged... Horses, early driving lessons (Private land) and a car at 12, albeit a mini metro 😌
Wonderful grandparents and parents, nice holidays, a boyfriend who I’m now married to and love very much.
A late July birthday; never had school.
I found school easy, partook in lots of extracurricular sports. Was gorgeous, slim and secure in myself.

I was a very lucky young lady and appreciated it.

Shit sorry. Wish I’d read the thread before posting. Wish everyone could have have a lovely childhood. I hope everyone is in a much better place now.

Horrendous due to bullying at school. I endured five years of complete misery. In all lessons, I was worrying about where I could hide at the next break. It wasn't just verbal name calling, there was also theft and damage to my property (coat cut, bag and/or books stolen etc), and occasional physical assault - usually fag ends stubbed out on my arm!

Teachers were absolutely pathetically useless - just got the same old "be tougher", "just avoid them", etc - typical victim blaming because they couldn't be arsed to do anything!

The day I left that awful place was the happiest day of my teen years. Shame that I left without a single qualification. Even more of a shame that I was a straight A* student the day I started! Just dropped a grade as each year passed.

I can't go past or look at the school without feeling physically sick.

@DBML oh god! Don’t be sorry ! It’s nice to read pleasant things , you shouldn’t apologise for having a great childhood/teen years .
My childhood was pretty good and I have fond memories.
The teen years were the hard ones

Never touched drugs, my Mum did an excellent job of scaring me shitless about them and I was convinced I’d die if I ever took one. Hung about with other like-minded teens so there was no drinking or sex. It suited me fine as I was quite shy. I started going out drinking in 6th form and got my first boyfriend then. I was once told I wasn’t very “streetwise” but it came from the mouth of someone who took a lot of drugs in her youth and I assumed she was covering up how much she regretted the choices she’d made, so I just smiled and said how lucky I was to come from a nice family.

to all those who were bullied as teenagers. It’s so sad and shocking to think of the possibility some of you may not even have survived those years.

My teens were scarred by bullying too - and teachers who were either complicit or useless. I dropped out of school aged 15 and had quite a serious depressive episode around 17. I was broke, lonely and it seemed life would never get better. But it has got better and everything I feel I’ve achieved since those years feels so much bigger because of them.

I feel a sheltered one. No-one in my year at school got pregnant (or got anyone pregnant), drugs were never offered to me, drinking at 17 probably the only thing vaguely naughty (no wheat fields for me!).

Full chaos, poor mental health, god knows how got out alive, some of it was awesome though

Very dull and boring. Quite privileged, i must admit, but totally unamusing. I was well behaved, never gave my parents trouble (although they always found some shit to nag about), i did well at school, although didn't amount to anything at all. I lived for videogames and internet, nothing else was interesting. Biggest "adventure" was to drink to the excess ocassionally. So i have very few remarkable memories from my youth.

14-16: swimming parties, village disco, rotaract events, young farmers, pony club, lots of chats with boys from the grammar school. Trips to London and county town.

16-18: pretty similar, no more village disco, hunt balls, friends driving so went further afield. All very tame.

18-20: dropped out of uni, went to Switzerland for 6 months, huge fun but very tame. Moved to London flat at 19.

No casual sex, drugs or getting drunk. Never really liked clubbing.

I was very sad, living with a controlling mother who had a screw loose and a drunk Father. I used to dread Friday coming home from school because I knew I had a whole weekend to get through, waring parents, lots of chores and a bit of DV when there was nowt else to be getting on with.

As soon as I left home I drank to excess, did drugs and racked up the one night stands.

However, I have a really lovely family now and a warm, cosy family home with a loving dh and 3 kind, funny dc.

I also now work with teens who have shitty lives and although I can't save them, I get a lot of joy in helping them however I can.

Life is good.

Different
I had Dd1 at 15.
My teenage years were spent looking after her. I also took on alot of the housework at home as my parents worked full time. I had to grow up quickly and never done things my friends got to do.
I started work at 18 and can still remember taking dd out and buying her black patent boots that I've looked at in the shop for months with my first wage.
That was 27yrs ago.

At 13 I loved David Cassidy. At 14 I discovered Bowie and snogged a boy in the cinema. I worked hard at school.
At 16 I met my (Male) penfriend and at 17 started sleeping with him and smoking dope/bit of speed/mushrooms. Lots of fun.
Went to uni at 18, fewer drugs, drank a bit.
I always struggled to feel I belonged in any set. Fell in with left-wing politicos and felt ashamed of my middle-class upbringing.

This was all in the 70s.

It was hell. I went to a really rough school on a council estate where you sink or swim. I was a sensitive artistic bookworm who made the mistake of putting my hand up to answer every question thereby signing my own death warrant. No one liked me and I was picked on for years. I ended up with depression, anxiety and an eating disorder. I hoarded paracetamol but never actually took an overdose. Parents were emotionally distant and self obsessed so I could never have told them. The first boy that looked in my direction completely used me and then I was bullied by his ex-girlfriend for years. Drink and drugs dulled the pain. I failed all my exams.

I'm still scarred by my teenage years. I'm so envious of people who had happy, carefree teenage years with lots of friends and close family support, happy memories, and falling in love. I really, really wish that had happened for me. I would have been a totally different person today.

Largely left to my own devices whilst my newly single parents pursued their own interests and love lives. I was very obviously in the way and made to feel that I was a burden, a nuisance.
It was a very lonely (I am on only child) and scary time. Friends who've known me since that time talk about neglect.
It's not a time I look back on with fondness and the lack of parental care/interest/support affected the decisions I made as a young adult.
I sincerely hope I was a better parent to my DC during their teenage year.

No shoplifting or raving (to reference OP). Went to university at 17 loved the freedom, worked hard

I think people who have grown up with supportive parents cannot realise what its like nor realise how lucky they are. I remember talking to a friend about when she needed medical treatment as a teenager. It seemed really odd to me as both her parents helped her. I don't remember ever seeing a doctor once my mum died. Maybe I never got ill but if I had been seriously ill, I have no idea what I'd have done. If I ever had any type of problem, it never occurred to me to tell anyone or seek help. I'm still like that as an adult. I never ask anyone for anything and if I needed help or a favour, I'd keep quiet and hope someone noticed!

Miserable, cause I was bullied at school, and got no support at home to cope with it.

I spent a lot of time in my room, reading. We lived in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, where the nearest regular bus service was 2 miles walk away, and I had no friends in the village, so I was a very lonely and isolated teenager. My dad did drive, but my social life wasn’t considered worthy of the expenditure in petrol, so I missed out on things a lot.

Privileged. Caring, involved parents. Stable home, stable friendships. Was the school dux and did well at sports and extra curricular, eg won the swimming champs and captained the debate team etc etc.
despite that I got up to A LOT of mischief!!! Drank every weekend, used to wag school to smoke pot with my mates, smoked cigarettes, went to raves and festivals, the full noise. Lost my virginity at 14 and had loads of (lovely, respectful) boyfriends. Had a great time, loved it. Parents weren’t that strict. I was self motivated I guess, and did well. I was probably a bit up myself but having confidence really helps in your teens.

Mine was pretty standard but I suffered with hideous anxiety from age 17-19 and could barely leave the house.

I left college and got a job which sorted me out, spent my early 20s making up for lost time 😉

Name change coz I’m sure my family is around here.

My teenage years were fucked.

Age 13, moved away from my family and friends to another country. My parents started a new family and I was forgotten about. Nobody ever cared where I was or what I was doing. Moved schools.

Age 14, was raped by a stranger at a skate park. Got into an abusive relationship with an 18yo, who used to threaten me and hit me. Nobody gave a shit. Moved schools twice. Drank a lot.

Age 15. Self harm, depression, drank a lot, smoked a lot of weed, had the crap beaten out of me on the street I was wandering one night. Was mugged at knifepoint at the train station, also while wandering the streets. I had one good teacher this year who I loved and listened to me. My parents were busy with their new family and only noticed me when they wanted a baby sitter. Moved schools again, away from said teacher and the only positive role model in my life.

Age 16. Got pregnant. Was dumped by the baby’s dad.

It’s been mostly uphill from there but I could definitely be an active participant in ‘Stately Homes’. My mother still hates me for the embarrassment I brought to the family and loves to tell me all my problems are my fault and a direct result of my choices. Maybe they are, but teenage years are shit if you have no guidance or help.

I think my teenage years were a bit of a mixed bag.
On one hand, I was very self reliant and responsible. I worked from the age of 14, did well at school and went travelling the world at 18 and was the first person in my family to attend university at 19.
On the other hand, I did drink excessively, dabble in drugs, experience issues with both ED and self-harm and probably had more sexual experiences than average.
I don't think I would have had half those experiences if my parents hadn't divorced when I was a teen. All of a sudden, our "normal" family was gone and while DM decided to "find herself", my siblings and I were just kind of left floundering without much parental influence.
I wouldn't change it, because that self reliance has served me well.