The Guardian "Family" Section

[NineUnlikelyTales]

Following on from the thread about the wicked stepmother, I wondered what you all think of The Guardian's Saturday "Family" section?

In general I enjoy it, but I HATE with a passion the life with teenagers column. The woman who writes it presents her foul-mouthed, dysfunctional offspring as perfectly normal. And it frightens me (DS is only 6m so no bad language here yet)

Any views?

good thinking, nine

I know I'm right, I used to write a column

and the thing is i know teenagers swear, but they have to learn when its appropriate ie not at school , work etc and imo in front of parents.

But these are London teenagers - don't know if that makes a difference.

I was with the son on the towels thing too. Why can't he just have a nice towel? I think though you have to do a lot of reading between the lines. One week she was describing going to a party where there were some teenagers present who were dressed like adults and very polite. She described going home and being very glad that she had rebellious teenagers, so perhaps she has the children she really wants. I also get the impression that she gets quite emotional, so its not surprising that her children also do quite a bit of stomping around.

I believe that teenagers' brains work like toddlers' (really) - they find it hard to empathise, for example.

Ok, so having read this I'm really worried. I've always laughed at the column because my children are so like those teenagers .Except mine are 8, 3, and 1. Apparently the teenagers once had nice little Scandanavian wooden chairs, adjustable for correct posture, and the mother would wipe their hands and faces with a flannel after every meal- and felt in control. I have the Scandanavian chairs. I have the flannels.Not so sure about the control. My every sympathy goes out to the poor woman. Enjoy your shock and distain now, mothers of well behaved toddlers. Your time will come.

chocolateface, I'm not the mother of well-behaved toddlers, I'm the mother of (reasonably) well-behaved teenagers.

Mine did not have the adjustable Scandinavian high chairs, and by about child 3 I was wiping the little faces with a kitchen cloth, but OTOH we all use the same towels and treat each other with more or less mutual respect. (We do still have rows, rants and major door-slamming from time to time mind you, sometimes from them )

maintaining standards is hard and a pita but pays dividends