Should we leave Glasgow?

[relocationconfliction]

We have 3DC, 2 DD’s and a DS. We live just on the outskirts of Glasgow, about a 8 min drive to city centre. We’re becoming very worried about the future safety of our children. Nearly daily on the news there’s stories about teenage boys stabbing each other, it seems like it’s an epidemic. There’s also a lot of stories recently about teenage girls being attacked in places such as parks etc. It’s horrible. My DS, who’s still a child but obviously will grow up, is getting into the football with his dad and supports one of the old firm teams. Even that feels dangerous. I’d never be comfortable with my children going out as teens to meet their friends as there’s just trouble everywhere. Any advice would be great. Thinking of relocating to Argyll.

Apologies I misread your post. I do sometimes see teens walking from here to Springburn to go to McDonald’s and KFC which isn’t that bad but you are right that you wouldn’t consider it in many areas. I did a project recently as part of my advocacy work about SIMD and it was a rather sobering study.

Yes it might be worth considering if that is a very real risk for the OP’s children. For some it undoubtedly is depending upon many factors.

I was raised in the East End by two working class parents but I had a comfortable life and they owned our flat. I was an only child and my friends, like me, had piano and riding lessons and were regularly taken to museums, libraries and cultural events. Some other children in my street had a parent in prison, had parents with alcohol/drug issues and did not have such luxuries. Although just living in our area increased the risk of violence, our risks were not the same. I was at much less risk of violence than they unfortunately were. That said my parents still decided to move to East Dunbartonshire.

Unfortunately you can do everything right and still end up with a child who becomes involved in drugs as a friend in a semi-rural area discovered as one of her three children is awaiting trial for drug dealing. She did everything that she could to give him a good upbringing and he still made bad decisions and found himself in a very bad situation but though there’s no guarantee, it is worth, if you have the means, trying things to improve their odds of success/not becoming involved with a bad crowd. So though I still don’t recognise the OP’s general depiction of Glasgow, in her particular, unknown to us, circumstances then it a move might be the answer for her family, bearing in mind the downsides/risks too.

I really don’t envy anyone trying to raise teens now. It’s always been difficult but with social media now there really is very little escape if your teen finds themself in with a bad crowd or in a bad situation.

I hope that the move works out for you OP, if that’s what you decide to do.

Sadly antisocial behaviour doesn’t know where postcode boundaries lie. My though process has been to teach DS how to avoid/get out of situations that he doesn’t feel safe/comfortable in.

I don't think teens find themselves in a bad crowd. They choose to be part of the crowd just like all the other members of it as that's who they are. It's what I said to my son when he was a young teenager. I also reminded him that he wouldn't get off lightly by blaming the rest of the crowd if he got into trouble.

To a certain extent this is correct but unfortunately is not really based in reality for children growing up in heavily deprived areas.

Many are likely to witness their families/community being involved in gangs/violence/alcohol/drugs and therefore grow up believing it’s normal behaviour.

If they do not have a positive role model at home then they really do not have a chance to avoid this, many families have had inter-generational involvement in the same gangs going back decades so the children know nothing else.

Many also start to become involved because they need protection from groups from other areas or even to avoid becoming a target in their own area.

I wish it was as simple as choosing not to run with a ‘bad crowd’ but if that was the case many of these issues would have been solved decades ago.