Teenagers

[Sheila]

My younger daughter is moving house and obviously having a sort out.  She has put loads of photos of her teenage years on Facebook and it brought back memories.  She is full of fun and was a nightmare teenager.  Her dad just wanted to kill her.  I don't know how I survived those years! 

I remember her saying that she didn't want to be a swot like her sister.  On the day she left school (to go to university) I remember the headmistress smiling and shaking her head 'well she got there in the end!'  We shared a moment of wondering how we both survived those years.

She has grown up to be a lovely, very popular person and a very good mother.

Does anyone else have memories of those teenage years?   

[Scrumpy]

Teenage years..
I remember my mum saying ' Don't do it.. ' and me answering 'I can do what I like now'..


She was so right .. I should never have got married so very young..

[biglouis]

I spent my teenage years still living with my parents. Most of the time I can remember it as a running battle with them trying to control me. I was 17 when I first mentioned the possibility of getting a flat with a friend. My mother immediately threw one of her "wobblers" (panic attacks) and my father told me I could "pack my grip now and dont think you'll get back in here."


The very idea of my leaving to get my own place generated such opposition with my parents that I dont think they would ever have spoken to me again. I dont think they would have managed without my money.


I didnt leave home til my early 20s when my sister got pregnant at 16. This was the 1960s and it was still considered a great disgrace then. As it was a small 2 up/2 down terrace it was a great excuse to leave and maintain a civilised relationship. My grandmother helped me find a new build flat and lent me the money to furnish it.

When I later looked back I have no idea how I tolerated living with my parents for so long. My mother used to go through my drawers to see how much money I had and was constantly looking in my wardrobe to see if i had bought anything new. I kept my money and my clothes in my grandmothers house and used an accommodation address for my post.

[Jacqueline]

I wanted to leave home at 17 and get my own flat, whether I would have been able to keep myself on my wages I doubt.  But like your parents Biglouis, mine wouldn't hear of it. 


Unlike you I got married young instead, that was my way to get my own place but freedom I didn't get as instead of my mother I had a husband to answer too.
The first 20 odd years of marriage were not the best, although we did have a good life.   There were things I wanted to do but couldn't because of bringing up the children, after the kids left and we started doing things together we became good friends, now 50 years later still together.  Actually not many of our friends marriages survived.

[biglouis]

My grandmother wanted to give me the money to furnish my first flat but I felt uncomfortable accepting so much money from her. So we agreed to call it a loan. Even then I had a business head on me and had gone round the shops pricing out all the essentials and making a list of what I believed I needed. At the bottom I had put how much I proposed to pay grandma back each month and how long it was going to take me.

£250 was a lot of money then.


When I had paid her half the money back she refused to accept any more and told me she would be angry and offended if I tried to sneak it into her bank. You did not argue with my grandmother and I believe I take after her a lot.

[GrannyMac]

I wanted to leave home at 17 and get my own flat, whether I would have been able to keep myself on my wages I doubt.  But like your parents Biglouis, mine wouldn't hear of it. 

Unlike you I got married young instead, that was my way to get my own place but freedom I didn't get as instead of my mother I had a husband to answer too.
The first 20 odd years of marriage were not the best, although we did have a good life.   There were things I wanted to do but couldn't because of bringing up the children, after the kids left and we started doing things together we became good friends, now 50 years later still together.  Actually not many of our friends marriages survived.

I got married young too, I was 16 when I met my husband, married five years later. We had some tough times when the children were young, its hard when you've left family and friends, and your new life turned out to be a pipe dream.  But we stuck it out, through poor health, redundancy etc and we're still together and content. Good friends is right Jacq. 

I remember the children's teenage years too Sheila. My son's life revolved round playing sport and girlfriends. My daughter's in having various part time jobs whilst at college, to save money to travel. She was never afraid of work! And how they eventually stopped niggling at each other and started to get on 😃.

[biglouis]

I often feel that my young womanhood (or girlhood if you will) did not begin until I left my parents home. I had no one but myself to answer to. My parents were not even on the phone until the early 1970s! So they had no way of checking up on me. Absolute bliss!

I cant describe the sensation of freedom I felt after I closed the door on the removal guy on getting my first place.

This coincided with the introduction of the fast trains from Liverpool to London. I loved shopping so I made many trips. It was a time of great excitement and hope.