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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Teen not gone to Uni missing friends and depressed

5 replies

strebor44 · 29/01/2015 22:38

My son decided against going to Uni after A levels, although his A2 results were a bit disappointing anyway. Instead he looked for a traineeship/apprenticeship. He has landed a role with a small local company as a trainee and does day release at college working towards a degree. The job seems good and of course he has a clearly defined path towards degree and qualification without incurring the debt. all of that is positive. THe problem he has is that ALL of his friends from 6th form went off to Uni, he had a full social calendar with his group and now they are not around for long periods. The company he works for he is considerably younger than his colleagues, so this doesn't really offer a social outlet and similarly the others on his college course are generally 4-5 years older (he is 18).

He does play a couple of sports, but in both cases the teams he plays for are largely devoid of lads 18-21.

Can anyone suggest local 'social' groups for this age group....i.e those who have 'notgonetouni', something that may offer 18-21 year olds locally who did not go away to uni a route to meeting up and doing social things together.

OP posts:
Hundredsand · 30/01/2015 20:19

Can really sympathize. Feeling isolated from peers can lead to depression. It's important for him to be involved in something fun, something he looks forward to, as well.

Going through a lot of this with my own daughter.

Mrsjayy · 31/01/2015 12:21

It takes a while for them to adjust and make new friends dd travelled to her university all her school friends scattered and away from home your son will be ok just takes time to adjust

MassaAttack · 31/01/2015 15:50

This was me. I made new friends through work, but I understand this is harder for your son. Could he get a part time job in a restaurant or something? Weekend bar work perhaps?

Other thoughts, as he's earning a wage can he afford to visit his friends? Get a young persons railcard maybe? Does he have any interests that might lend themselves to volunteering?

It's difficult, being 18 already he's a bit old for cadets etc. Was he a scout? They have groups for older youngsters.

yearofthegoat · 08/02/2015 12:21

Is there a Rotaract Club or Young Farmers group around?

Claybury · 01/03/2015 15:30

Can he run ? I belong to a running club and it's all ages, admittedly some are older like me but there really is a range.

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