what good / positive things do teenagers do?

[burek]

I'm living abroad and the other day there was a story about how terrible british teenagers are! You've probably had loads of the same story over there. I told anyone who asked me about it that not all teenagers are like that etc etc . But I am only saying it because I want it to be true not because i know it for a fact! So help me reset the balance and protect their reputations. Any parents of teenagers out there that can give me examples of positive stuff teenagers do, so I can back up my arguement?!

theres the princes trust stuff. as a general

personally - i have three teenager.

aged 17 and twins 14 ( on thursday) the 17 yo has a job, girlfriend of over a year. caused me a bit of grief when he was 15 but apart from that he is a joy. he is employed fulltime , gets wage works hard, goes tocollege for his apprenticeship. is polite witty and lovely.

recently he sat alongside me in the car and we were singing queens greatest hits. topbelt. it was just a loverly moment.

the twins haven't come into any trouble. they are kind thoughtful well mannered. they are helpful around the house. and again ( for now) a complete joy.

there was another thread discussing much the same topics which will be raised here.

there is no doubt that there are areas of britain where there is a gand culture. i would suggest on experience only that this is larger cities.

however i think teenagers by virtue of music and dress are alien to us - and we somehow inject nostalgia into out teenage years when dressing gothtastic or MOD or punk is looked back on with fondness, where probably as an older person again - one would have crossed the street faced with pink hair, no hair, black hair avec nose chains etc.

i think its always been so but recently teens seem to be more demonised

I have 3 teens. My ds1 did a paper round from age 13 early mornings everyday (6.30 on school days), evenings too. He took himself off to do a lifeguarding course the day after his 16th birthday. Earned his own money since then. Currently he's volunteering at our local First Responders helping with fundraising. Him and his girlfriend take dd shopping and to the cinema.

Ds2 has a paper round too. Studying hard at school and doing a footie refs course in his spare time so he can help out at the local youth league. He has a great set of mates, on the whole polite and considerate.

Both boys call on their gran most days, help out at home and are great kids.

I'm proud of them!

There can't be just custy and me with decent teens!

my ds is 15 and full of teenage angst BUT he is brilliant. he is my extra hands/eyes and ears when it comes to his severly disabled sister. I honestly don't know what I would do without him.
But the best thing is to him she is just his sister. he treats her like normal which is rare in her life.

Duke of Edinburgh awards

Babysitting (without pay even if required)

Helping at church creche & junior church

Mentoring younger students at school

Fundraisng

does well at school & has a great crowd of friends

I have a 15 yr old dd and she is polite,well mannered and a pleasure to have around.Her friends are all lovely .
I hate the way that all teens get tarred with the same brush.Most of the teens,no,all of the teens I know, are normal kids working hard at school ,earning money babysitting or at part-time jobs and having fun.They respect adults even though some adults obviously don't respect them (am thinking of for ime. bus drivers and sales assistants here)

I think the press are on about the worst teens,involved in gangs etc.There are certainly those (no personal experience though)
but there are loads more nice teens,just like you and I were

I don't have teens yet.....but we have 2 fab teenage babysitters!

oh yes - one of the dance teachers at ballet is a teenager, she is lovely and all the little girls buzz around her as soon as she enters the room! she's only about 17

I hate the way all teens are demonised. I have 2 DDs 18 and 15).

The DD1 18 has worked since she was 14, is kind and everyone loves her in the local pub! She works hard and has strong morals.

DD2 plays for a Silver Band, turns out in all weathers, playing outside supermarkets, fetes, fayres all voluntarily and the Band is full of teens like her.

To be a spectator in this phase of their lives is just wonderful. They have confidence, are bolshy know-it-alls and DD1 honestly thinks she is going to change the world. How wonderful is that?!

Aha - now this is the sort of stuff I need to tell people here! Just normal kids getting on with life and making an effort. And they are probably the vast majority of British teenagers too. You should feel very proud of them and I hope that one day my ds will be one of them too. I think people here will be surprised to hear about teenagers in the UK having jobs and doing voluntary work, since the image they get in the news is that of a bunch of bored kids getting into trouble because they have 'nothing to do'.

and then growing up to be 'lager louts and football hooligans' and getting in to fights abroad etc etc etc. This sort of thing makes you see how respnsible the media is for all the bad image.

i think maybe some of the bad press is from the groups of stag nights/football fans that go alone to european cities and just drink/shag.

Some local kids did a big band event in a local hotel - big leap of faith for the hotel, more used to Lion's Clubs. they raised a lot for local children's cancer charity. The report in the local paper buried this deep in the inside pages with lots of pictures of scarey kids so fogies wouldn't read it. In the letters page they had a whiney letter about the secondary school fundraising for charity by selling chocolate - surely our children need to eat fruit? I sent in a furious letter. The endless griping gets me down.

i can see your point stleger! a complaint about chocolate and no admiration for the fundraising - crazy. And maybe it was the newspaper choosing a more controversial letter to print than all the ones that came in praising the kids!

And that's just the point isn't it? The media picking out the bad stuff about teens because it will sell more papers.

I made the point on another thread - that David Cameron/hoodie episode last week. How many decent teens has he spoken to and how often do they make the papers? Loads of teens I bet and no publicity. All the attention the hoodie got last week will have boosted his street cred no end.

Over 200 teenagers received Duke of Edinburgh awards in our area last year. That means every single one of them has done voluntary work in the local community for a minimum of three months and at least a year if they are doing their Gold Award. The photo with the short report in the local paper was of a local councillor bigging up council support - no teenagers shown.

i missed this first time round.

I teach between 160-200 teenagers every year. I would say that 95% are totaly fab, 4% of them can be silly sometimes and can be easily led and that 1% have such probelms that they can be very difficult to deal with,

But 99% of them are great.

Some examples. My sixth formers clubbed together to send me presents and cards when I was on compassionate leave when dh was first taken ill. they sent my children presents and chocolates for christmas. Several of them have volenteered to baby sit for me if I need it!

They have been so kind and supportive quite outstanding.

This week over 20 of them have given up their spare time to work with groups of Y5 children who are visiting the school.

The young people I work with are outstanding, I love working with them.

I'd say our local secondary school would be similar - I'm in Ireland so the aren't British teenagers! The majority do enough study to keep teachers happy, then crank it up near exam times. They play sport (Bloody local paper is kept in business with parents buying the rag to see photos of kids), they are in bands, they help with charity things, they work part time. They will be the main people in the local St Patrick's Day parade as they do so many things. The local council is spending a fortune making the park into a 'walled park' which can be locked at night, with a flipping bandstand in it. I await the uproar when local teens see the bandstand as a nice covered drinking den, and climb the wall to get in. We have no swimming pool, no friendly cafe like on Neighbours and very little respect for the ten percent of our community aged 15 - 20. (Glad Disney was good mb!)