Positive teen stories please!

[Sunshineyelllow888]

I have a just turned 13 year old son. He's mostly lovely other than a few typical sulks. Nothing terrible though. I hear and read so much about teens changing as they get into 14-16 years for the worst, not respecting anyone, homework not being done, ignoring any boundaries and other worse behaviours. I know teens test the water etc and fully expecting that at some point. But there is this dread just waiting for the day when the horrid teen years set in. We have a nice calm household at the moment so really not looking forward to it.
It doesn't help with family and friends with teens sharing their own teen horror stories and how they changed and not close anymore etc etc.

I was a good teen, never caused any major issues or arguments for my mum. So I can't really relate in my own personal experiences as a teen.

The media in particular paints them in such a bad light too. Can I have any positive teen stories please? There must be some!?

My teens are lovely. They are funny and kind and do their homework with prompting. They are brilliant company and we can talk about everything so differently now they're older. I love remembering my own teen feelings through them. The hard bit is learning to back off a bit, but if you do they'll value their time with you much more and seek you out instead of you chasing them!

My teen is amazing, funny, hard working and great company. Her friends are lovely too.

My teen (15) is lovely too. She’s had a lot of challenges and you could see all of them as negatives (self harm, eating disorder, poor mental health to name a few) but she is an awesome young woman, who engages with therapists, works hard at school, has a small group of lovely friends who really look out for her. She’s amazing and I’m really proud of her.

Agree with PP about backing off and it can be hard, but it absolutely pays dividends. My teen talks to me very openly (in a way I never could with my mum, even though my mum was lovely) and I know that’s because we (me and her) have done so much ‘work’ together on coping with a long list of crap that life has thrown at us.

It’s not all plain sailing and as a lone parent it can feel doubly tough but teens are definitely not all doom and gloom!

I have a 17 year old son and the most that ever happened was he got a bit tearful a out growing up. He is a model member of society, works hard, helps with his siblings, insists on buying a round of coffees etc (in fact several times he just pops his card on top of the reader before I've even had a chance!). Not an ounce of an issue with him.

Both my teenagers have been total arses during their teenage years, alternating with being lovely. Now that we are almost on the other side (20 and nearly 18) things are better - but it was a bumpy road!

My teens are lovely. They will be turning 15 and 18 next month. They help with housework, cook meals, work hard at school (most of the time) talk to us (but not as much as they do with their friends,) make messes but clean them up, needed a bit of training in letting us know where they were and when they would be back, and are generally fun and interesting people to be around.

I have the loveliest most thoughtful teenage son...he's just gone off to university and I miss him so much!

He's never given me a moment's trouble, chose his friends wisely and I loved having them round to our house and chatting to them. Teenagers get bad press, but there's plenty of lovely ones about.

I much prefer teens to toddlers and babies.

I’m a secondary school teacher, most teens are absolutely lovely. The do test boundaries are make poor decisions sometimes, but it’s honestly a real privilege to work with them and 90% of the challenges I face at work are down to adults rather than kids!

Ive got a 14yo and a 16yo and they are gorgeous. They know everything (they think) except how to tidy their rooms! But they are kind and thoughtful (mostly). The really tough bit is their growing independence, I’m bursting with pride but heartbroken that they are generally happier with their friends and increasingly don’t need me.

My 17-year-old is brilliant. He's kind, polite, chatty, funny, works hard at college, and has some really lovely friends. We've had our moments, of course we have - mostly around phone use at bedtime and getting up in the mornings, and insanely long showers. In the grand scheme of things, though, I genuinely couldn't have asked for a better son.

Aw my teens are great! (13 and 15). I mean they have their moments and I know there are more teen years to get through, but I'm enjoying these years a lot. They have nice friends, good school reports, and are generally respectful and sensible. And they're so funny now and good company.

I didn't have a great relationship with my parents in my teens, as they had very strict black and white views about things, and didn't take an interest in stuff I liked. So I'm trying not to be like that.

I have three teenagers and they're pretty great. My favourite people to spend time with.

I think you can't be too controlling with teenagers. Trust them to make their own choices, respect those choices, allow them to make mistakes, and be there to pick up the pieces. when it all goes wrong I am the person my teenagers come to for help because they can trust me to help them without blame or judgement.

I so rarely step in without being asked that when I do, they listen.

Parenting teenagers is a relationship of respect and trust that was formed when they were little.

Dd1 is nearly 17 and is awesome. She has her moments (don’t we all) but is such a wonderful young person. I can’t believe she’s mine half the time. Has lovely friends, works hard at school and is so kind and caring. She enjoys several hobbies and does some volunteering too.

Dd2 is nearly 14. Keeps herself to herself more than dd1 but is equally fabulous. Quirky and a very clear sense of self. Lovely friends, also enjoys hobbies and also is a hard worker.

Are there bumps in the road? Yes. Dd1 had a hard time at school in y9 -10 but her school was amazing and she got it together too.

I also teach secondary and the overwhelming majority of my pupils are absolutely wonderful. It upsets me greatly when people generalise about teenagers.

to all those who maybe haven’t such an easy time.

We’re out the other side, but our 2 teens were lovely. No dramas, no stroppiness, just became funnier and great company.

Mine are (mostly) great.
DD19 is very kind and funny and wonderful company and DS16 is a great big semi bearded Bro who loves Basketball and is fiercely protective and supportive of his incredible friend group - he also loves his Mummy very much (although he would die if his mates found out)
Wouldn't swap mine for the world, they are my favoutite people and not just because I gave birth to them

My 15 year old is just a brilliant person. We got soooo lucky with him. He’s never given us a moment’s trouble, he works hard at school and is predicted all 7s and 8s (except Spanish!) in his GCSEs despite his dyslexia, he has a weekend job that he loves, he goes to RAF cadets and hopes to join the RAF, he’s ridiculously articulate and we have the best, deep conversations. He’s also really kind and caring especially with younger children, despite being an only child. We’re regularly told how great he is by other adults so it’s not just rose tinted glasses! Oh, and he cooks us dinner every single night!! Cooking is his favourite past time and he’ll even sometimes do the dishwasher without being asked if there’s a break in his cooking.

The worst we’ve had is a little grumpiness when he’s tired, but who isn’t like that and his rooms are bloody messy!!

My friends also have 15/16 year olds and they have all sorts of trouble with them, so we consider ourselves extremely lucky 🥰.

My sons were delightful teenagers. They never gave us a minutes trouble and I missed them so much when they moved out. DS1 is 30 in a couple of months and to this day we’ve never had a row, he’s the most placid easy going person on the planet. DS2 is a bit more short tempered but we never screamed and shouted at each other and we never went to bed on an argument.

Ime you reap what you sow with teenagers, if you don’t trust them and control them they will push back. I always apologised when I was wrong and I treated them with respect. And most importantly pick your battles. The small things really don’t matter.

Good to hear of so many great sons out there.
DS is in his 20's now. I used to say that his laid back attitude was so extreme it became an issue but, looking back, it made bringing him up a doddle. Despite being pretty able academically he always did 'just enough' and no more. He passed his exams with solid but not stellar grades. He did music because he knew that mattered to me. He played rugby because that was important to DH. He chose his university because we drove past it when he was 14 and he thought it was a great building compared to the modern campus his elder sibling attended.
He has great friends, an enjoyable job and, for 4 years now, a beautiful, kind and hardworking girlfriend.
I like this quote, sadly don't know the source.
"The main thought is this – I don’t have many close male friends. It’s an ongoing wonder to me that I grew one of my best friends in the world, one of the best men I know, in my own body."
That sums up my DS and his teenage years were just fun and I wouldn't have missed a moment with him growing up. Ignore the horror stories.
One of my DD's, slightly more challenging as a teen, as was I, but honestly it will be fine.

I have 13 year old twins DD DS. They both have their moments as do I, and I do sometimes feel like staff in my own home, but they're good kids and show me love and are pretty respectful with amazing manners. I'm a single hard working mum do they see how much I juggle and always say thank you. I try and 'do with' and not 'do to' and so far so good I'd say. Things can be tough when you're on your own but out of nowhere I had a little moment in Aldi 😂today thinking how lucky I am with them both x

i have four teens - 17,15,15 and 13. two are brilliant, never had any issues, two have been incredibly difficult. they are getting closer to 16 and im finding that its getting better but 13-15 with twin girls has killed us.
its certanly caused me quite a few health issues due to stress. getting better though

Try not to listen/read to news reports about teenagers. Unfortunately they rarely report on well behaved/doing something good unfortunately.

From my experience apart from the normal stroppy teenage/child behaviour all the teenage I know have been well behaved and polite.

Mine have only been a handful as they are autistic and the teen years was mostly set to a backdrop of school refusal and dealings with the aftermath of it. They are thoroughly decent people, never been in trouble and are respectful and polite. Teens get a bad rep but the vast majority, you don't hear about in the press, are lovely.

My teens 19&16 have caused me zero problems. Both excelled academically, never been rude to me. Haven't told them off in years. Boy & girl

My XH, who believed himself to have been the Best Teenager Ever, used to moan about ds1's teenage behaviour (ds1 isn't his bio son). But in all honesty, the worst we had to deal with was some messiness and some swearing at the XBox, so hardly terrible behaviour, imo. Ds1 is now an utterly charming, loyal, protective, intelligent and funny adult.

Ds2 is nearly 17 and has never given me a minute's grief. There have been maybe one or two occasions when I've had to remonstrate gently with him, and he has been full of apologies. He has always done his homework without prompting, needed a mild "Oughtn't you to do a bit of revision?" a couple of times during GCSEs and came out with 7 9s and 3 8s. He is also funny, more sensitive than his brother and they are both my two favourite people in the world.

Don't believe all the horror stories. I know quite a lot of teenagers and they're all lovely (if maybe a bit stinky sometimes and with a heavy reliance on Lynx)

Every teenager I have ever known has been a delight.

Teenagers can be difficult of course. They can be absolute arses who think the world revolves around them. That's just their brain development.

My teens are no exception. Sometimes I could throttle them. But they will grow out of it and they are also wonderfully clever, funny, kind, considerate (with the occasional nudge) humans. They fight like cats and dogs but when it counts they look out for each other.

Tonight we've all been to the theatre together, all really enjoyed the play and then were in stitches at oldest teen's impressions in the car on the way home.