Teenage girls are great

[LouisaPesel]

To complement the lovely thread about amazing teen boys.

Teen girls are kind, witty and brave. They can never take their personal safety for granted but that doesn't stop them getting out there, enjoying life and working hard to achieve their dreams whether it's in the workplace, on the sports field or in the home.

The courage it takes for a girl to go backpacking abroad - for example - is immense but they do it because they're determined to live a life undaunted.

It's lovely to hear a group of girls laughing uproariously. Getting ready for a night out - one might to go glam, another prefers combats and a hoodie - but off they'll go as a laughing gang, ready to have fun together and look out for each other.

I love how teenage girls have each other's backs. Checking in on each other to make sure they're OK with school/college work, their relationships, their worries and dreams. And woe betide the boy who messes with their friend's affections!

Mum to a 5yo DD but I teach secondary - I've had so many interesting conversations with teenage girls and it's so lovely to see how they grow over the years. I love DD at this age but chatting to teenage girls every day makes me look forward to that stage of her life too.

Seriously? I read the other thread and thought it was nonsense and now we need a parallel set of nonsense about girls. Some people are great. Some are not. This applies to men and women, teenagers or not.

DD is 13 and (so far) an utter delight. Sharp witted and absolutely hilarious. Kind, generous but takes no shit from anyone. I love her company and listening to the conversations she has with her friends, they are all brilliant too. She is also a raging feminist and not afraid to call anyone out over it.

My 17yo last night genuinely thanked me for Christmas which was sweet.

Seriously? I read the other thread and thought it was nonsense

Yet you didn't think it necessary to say so on that thread?

I actually enjoyed reading the boys thread - gave me hope for the new generation of men!

Dd is obviously also great. She spent a lot of yesterday making me laugh, playing games and being grateful for all of the food and gifts. Just the two of us this year so it was relatively quiet but actually very intimate and christmassy because of that.

I love hearing her on calls to her friends, the shy quiet girl goes and a loud confident storyteller appears. So much laughter, never at anyone else's expense. I hope that continues!

Neither thread is nonsense. They are both antidotes to the frequent threads about how awful teeneagers are ... yes, they can be awful, as anyone can, but it is important to remember how it can be an exciting time. My 3 DDs caused me worries at times during their teenage years as they experimented with life and made their mistakes, but watching them and supporting them as they became the wonderful women they now are was a delight. I was proud of them then and am now.

Neither thread is nonsense. They are both antidotes to the frequent threads about how awful teeneagers are

Exactly! I get frustrated sometimes with the way teen girls are denigrated on MN as nightmares, bitchy, cliquey and so on. They're flawed humans as we all are but I loved DD as a teen and her friendship groups from school, her sports team, college and now uni.

No because I wasn't anticipating another one starting. In any event maybe you can cope with someone disagreeing with you and not liking your thread.

Well, I couldn’t wait for the teenage years to be over with mine. Found it horrendous irrespective of gender (both bad, but we found girls more problematic). And we had ones that, apart from one who waited until 18yo, didn’t drink until mid-20’s (if they were going to), none did drugs or were involved in any criminal activity or violence. Irrespective, still found the teenage years to be fucking horrible and was so glad when each one came out of them. Hats off to all who found wonder in the teenage years! The only good thing I can say is that none of mine needed to be identical to friends. Was so sad reading the thread about a 15yo and an iPhone and everyone saying give it to them so they can be just like their friends. I’m thankful none of ours felt the need to do that, it would have really put a shit cherry on top.

I agree with both threads and how lovely to celebrate our teens rather than just moan. Teen nephews are awesome lads, teen DD is fantastic, the peels of laughter, the helpfulness when she saw I was stressed yesterday. All chipped in and helped out. Love when teen DD is in a chatty mood and we curl up over a coffee having a gossip. Love that her friends automatically respect the no phones in bedroom rule without being asked and just put them on the kitchen counter with hers when they go upstairs. Also love the encouragement teen and tween DD have for each other trying new things.

Mine is great too, she’s got a little Saturday job around her college commitments and works hard, she bought us all lovely considerate gifts, she’s kind, thoughtful and funny. She’s growing up into a lovely human being :)

OMG, some sense. This ^^ all day long.

Yet the sort of people making the silly blanket statements, would probably be horrified to read "All white people are..." or "All black people are..." "All old people are..." etc.

The last time I looked, people were still individuals.

I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with me. I'm curious as to why a thread celebrating teen boys has generated only positivity but a thread celebrating teen girls hasn't.

Mumsnet is a lot tougher on boys/men so that thread was a nice (and rare) exception.

This thread is much more the norm.

A man starts a thread on here (god help him) about a topic, and a woman in exactly the same circumstances starts a thread about a topic, the contrast in the responses is glaring. One gets a sympathetic ear, the other a bashing.

Mumsnet is often a very cruel space (online generally is of course as it's nowhere near as brutal as real life hence the rapid increase in mental health issues among the youth since social media being a thing via the internet).

*that should be, 'since social media became a thing via the internet'.

Yes and some of us are talking about ours, what's the problem? Your own kids not so nice?

I loved DD's teenage years. They were full of laughter, good conversations, what appeared to be an endless stream of her friends popping in and lots of love and mutual respect. Having heard and read about some parents experiences with their DDs I count my blessings.

My 15yo did too, it was so heartwarming. She didn't ask for any specific presents, but was delighted with what she received!

If you like Louisapesel I can post how much nonsense the other thread is on there? I wouldn't want you to think I am being sexist.

Thanks, OP. I hate the all too frequent posts on MN saying, or agreeing, that teen girls are rude, selfish and horrible, and are almost expected to be. That it’s entirely normal, and anyone is unreasonable for not understanding that.

Loved the teenage boys thread (and those that don’t can just scroll on and frankly fuck off with their negativity, we get enough of that on here!) I love my nieces too, such fun.

Agree.

I wasn’t one of those seemingly awful teen girl and many of my friends weren’t either. I often think those who say those things were pretty bad themselves and think other girls had to be similar.

I also know that many teens regardless of gender are lovely despite the moans of other posters on MN saying otherwise.

Well if you want to try to put a downer on another thread, you're free to do so but I wouldn't bother. Just chill out, it's Christmas 😊

My DD is home from uni and it's great having her friends old and new drop by and hearing her laugh at their texts and group chats. She's lucky to have such solid friendship groups and I hope she maintains them.

Bitter