If you were a wild teen, what are your teens like?

[FortunesFave]

I was A1 crazy as a teen. From about 15 onwards I was all for the wild times...by 16 I was a regular in the pub and attending raves shortly afterwards in warehouses and all that came along with that.

DH was the same.

Our teens are 17 and 13...both are very cautious, very well behaved.

The older one....she and her bestie are getting ready for NYE which will be spent in another friend's house with a few bottles of champagne.

Their other friends who they used to be close to are all "into pills and MDMA" and it's off putting to DD and her friends...they don't smoke weed...whereas most of their other mates do and their parents do too...all very out in the open.

DD and her mates would NEVER try to get served in a bar or pub...we're in Australia and there are plenty in the city where they could but they just wouldn't dare.

Is it common that if you yourself were a wild child, your kids won't be? DH and I have always spoken honestly to the DC about drugs/alcohol and the effects and risks.

But we don't actually drink ourselves or take anything any more...unlike some of our mates who do sometimes.

I wonder if they’re pulling the wool over your eyes and they’re actually a little wilder than you realise

I was a wild teen but our kids are so sensible and I trust them fully.

I was a wild teen, like you out in pubs and nightclubs long before I should have been and yes, raves and free parties as well.
My eldest is 19 and very sensible in comparison to me! He likes a good night out and I don't obviously know what he's up to while away at uni but when he is here when he does go out he never seems to get really drunk, often he will be designated driver and not drink at all.
Before he was 18 his meet ups with friends were generally sport related or a meal out somewhere.
He is also a lot more emotionally mature than I was at that age.

I was a wild teen, my parents thought I was sensible. DS is a wild 3 year old so I'm bracing myself for the teen years

I mean he's sensible in comparison to what I was like at his age, obviously I am not out clubbing and at free parties every night these days

DH & I were sensible & responsible.

My mother was wild, our dads were gormless, DH's mum was a perfect sort.

3/4 DC are sensible & fairly responsible (DC1 underachieved at school & got into a few fights, but went into uniform services after that with leadership roles).

DC2 is somewhat reckless but says she's the responsible & sensible one in her friendship circle. She handles all the bill paying in her shared flat, for instance.

@HippeePrincess

I wonder if they’re pulling the wool over your eyes and they’re actually a little wilder than you realise

I knew someone would say that It's highly unlikely because we've always kept such an open dialogue...she knows DH and I dabbled and wouldn't freak out if she said "I've tried weed" or got a bit drunk...she just doesn't! She and her friends hang out here a lot too and the most they do is share a bottle of wine.

They don't go out much at all! I was always desperate to go clubbing and to pubs at this age.

Mine are less wild than I was, they do smoke weed though (blunts not spliffs as the kids are thankfully too health conscious for tobacco these days!) and the older one drinks sometimes but nothing like the way me and my friends used to.

I’m pretty relaxed about them experimenting, and speak to them about harm reduction etc. they know I insist that school/college work is prioritised and that they are expected to work hard and get good grades, which they both do.

I was wild
My oldest two are young teenagers and they are far more sensible and mature than I was
Don’t drink don’t smoke like sports and friends running and gaming
I was raving at 15

Surprisingly staid! no drugs, no alcohol, no wild parties, no doing totally stupid things for the thrill of it, no stopping out all night! Where did I go wrong?

I find this very interesting.
I was very tame, but am raising a daughter who is currently 10 and I can tell already I’m in for it.
My mum was a wild teen and couldn’t believe how tame I was. My nan was also tame and couldn’t believe she had such a wild daughter.
Good luck to us all ;)

Them, not me clearly I was really wild.

I was awful, ran away age 13 (hitched 4 hours away). Arrested multiple times. Camped anywhere with anyone. Expelled from school at 14. My teens are fantastic. Oldest just turned 18 and is off to uni in September to do music. He has never once given me grief. My 14yr old son has asd but is so bright and everyone he meets loves him.

Maybe kids nowadays just aren't as crazy in general ?

I was totally wild would say I was popping out for an hour come back three days later. Was in Camden Palace at 14/15. My 18 year old DS barely drinks never been in a pub without me.

I was quite wild. DD (15) is totally different. Extremely anti alcohol and smoking. Does go out with friends but nothing wild so far. I was a complete latch key kid and got away with all sorts of dangerous things.

I was a party animal. My son, not so much. He's Saffy to my Edwina.

I was fairly wild. DD(15) and DS(13) are really not wild! The talk about the kids at school that smoke and get into fights with disdain and always get really good reports from teachers. I don’t know how I’ve done it 🤷🏼‍♀️ 😂

I was wild, and so was their dad. We met at a rave in 1995, which says it all really.

Our oldest is double wild - terrifyingly, but the younger one is incredibly risk averse and doesn’t even drink. It’s like all the wild genes got poured into one kid.

My DD is 11 and very moral. She would be horrified if she knew what I got up to in my teens 😂

I was a different kind of wild, perhaps feral would be a more appropriate description. I loved the outdoors so would spend my teens hiking across Dartmoor, climbing around Snowdonia or walking along the South Downs Way. Folks used to give me money to stay in youth hostels but I would pocket that and 'wild camp', I had a decent sleeping bag and bivvy so was happy to sleep under the stars. Some of my fondest teen memories would be spending an evening outside with mates, talking shite with a few cans next to Hadrian's Wall or somewhere on the South Downs Way. I was an expert at sneaking into barns for a comfy night before slipping away at first light leaving no trace. I sleep in house these days.

I was never interested in drugs but I was clubbing and drinking from around 14/15. We were obviously under 18 but most places didn’t care at all. I think it’s a lot stricter now in terms of ID needed to go out so that might make a bit of a difference. I’m 42 and my oldest is 6 and youngest 2 so I’ve a while to go yet but I do worry how I’ll handle this if they’re always out and slicing school like I did!

I think times are different now. I went out clubbing from age 16 every Friday night. Never asked for ID or anything. Could have got into some very risky situations and got paraletically drunk every weekend. If we weren't out, we were in our local park drinking /smoking. That is where I met my husband when we were 16. He did the same things I did.
We both came from stable loving homes, parents werent too soft, weren't too strict. I suppose we thought it was cool. I could have easily been a teenage pregnancy statistic or been attacked or anything, and so could my friends. We were very lucky.

Teens now seem more health conscious. You don't see groups of teens roaming the streets like we did. And pubs/clubs are much stricter on ID now aswell.

My husband and I are nothing like that now, both sensible and don't even drink!

I was a wild teenager, my spouse was a calm one though his mother joked it was because he went through puberty quite early comparatively to other guys (taller than most teachers at the end of primary, nearly as broad as he is now by 12) that he got all those hormones and angst out of the way before he was old enough to do much with them.

My teenagers are far more like their father. DS1 had a similar puberty, we bashed heads a lot and he did a couple wild things then, but he was 11 so wild was shaving half his head at his grandparents' house when no one was looking to look like a "cool dude" and sneaking food up to his room. He was so emotionally all over the place, but by 14, he was a diligent hard worker and had calmed down a lot. Now at 17, he can be a bit moody if interrupted or embarrassed about something and he's on the computer a bit too much for my tastes, but I was too at his age - and now - so it's hard to argue. Pretty much his whole social life is online or bringing his college friends home to do things online so no, I don't think he's pulling the wool over my eyes, like his father his drives are more hobby based than doing anything wild.

My DD1 was also an early bloomer and her wildest phase so far was also wanting really short hair and also wearing brightly coloured leggings as trousers - until she realized about underwear lines and was mortified. She often says things about how she doesn't get why her peers do things or the appeal of certain wild activities and finds my childhood stories of that in-school suspension for going on field trips I wasn't meant to go on mind blowing.

DD2, at 12, is starting to sound more like me though (and is only just starting to show signs of puberty so is following my late bloomer ways there too). She had her first detention this past term and came home saying "I don't get what the big deal is...". DD1 was more upset because a teacher in the hall was discussing who had detention that day, so many people knew DD2 had it, and DD1 hated the idea of people knowing she was in trouble and got really wound up by the idea. DD1 hasn't entirely calmed yet, she can be pretty emotionally volitile and is still very black and white in her thinking, but she labels pretty much anything wild as immature at this point. It'll be interesting to see how that changes for both my daughters.

@HippeePrincess

I wonder if they’re pulling the wool over your eyes and they’re actually a little wilder than you realise

A good point. My brother was completely wild from about 16 onwards. The only reason we knew is because he was a knob and made it obvious.

My parents have often said "you were never like him". To this day, I have never said a word, but some of the things I got up to in my later teen years and at University, would give my mother the vapours.