What did you keep hidden from your parents as a teenager?

[reecejackox]

Nothing too major for me The fact that I bunked off school once was the only major thing for me.

[Alf]

Porn mags

[rusticgal]

Pocketed my dinner money..
Cigarettes...

[Redway]

Cigarettes.

[Gstar]

I would say my sexuality but I guess I was still learning about myself

[Glenn.]

^^^^

That I liked sucking dick

[user104658]

By my teens my parents were like slightly-distant flatmates who bought me food. They weren’t really interested in or paying attention to what I was up to for me to need to hide anything. From 15 I had alcohol, cigarettes (though I only ever did either socially) etc. in my room quite openly.

The reasons varied I think. For my dad, his mum died when he was a kid and his dad worked like 70h weeks so he was independent from a very young age and just sort of expected the same I guess? With my mum she had declining mental health by that point and had just sort of opted out of paying attention to anything at all.

As a secondary reason, I’ve seen pictures of them as teens in the early 70’s and they were blatantly both MASSIVE hippies - right down to the long hair, guitars, flowery dresses and flares - so I think some of that “you’re free to do what you want” ethos spilled over.

I loved it at the time of course but I now sort of wish they’d been a LITTLE more present. I was “lucky” enough to be extremely intelligent (obviously) so I could do well enough in school without putting in any work, so that’s of course what I did, and consequently I didn’t finish Uni first time round and still find it VERY, VERY difficult to self-motivate with work.

Thank you for listening to my saga :hee:

[AnnieK]

Similar to TS....once they discovered I had taken up smoking my mum allowed me to smoke in my room although for different reasons than TS. My mum hated being lied to and so thought a bit of reverse psychology would work, if she let me smoke it would take some of the buzz away. Well, that was an epic fail on her part :laugh:

Still lied about other things....sleeping at friends when we were actually staying in a derelict house....skipping school (caught out in that one loads of times), going to raves etc.

[bots]

too many things to count :hee: They were both the product of strict upbringing so expected the same from me and that was never going to happen :hehe:

[user104658]

Similar to TS....once they discovered I had taken up smoking my mum allowed me to smoke in my room although for different reasons than TS. My mum hated being lied to and so thought a bit of reverse psychology would work, if she let me smoke it would take some of the buzz away. Well, that was an epic fail on her part :laugh:

Still lied about other things....sleeping at friends when we were actually staying in a derelict house....skipping school (caught out in that one loads of times), going to raves etc.

I think mine did also subscribe to the "get them prepped for the world" philosophy and that's a line I think I'm going to struggle with for my own kids - how much to allow them a gentler introduction to while still at home, before moving away. Because... on the ONE hand, I know that kids who were a bit "sheltered" and had stricter parents as teens wound up in an absolute ****ing mess when going off to Uni because they were out of their depth and trying to keep up with "more experienced socialisers", so I think it's a bad idea to just be like "hey you're 18 now off you go!" and in at the deep end.

On the other hand, I know that I got myself into some dodgy situations in my mid to late teens :umm2: and it lowkey terrifies me to think of my daughter in those scenarios.

So I think the best plan is if she just stays at home until she's 25 and she can start dabbling with a nightlife when she's 21? :think:

[smudgie]

I never shared any information with my parents as a teenager.:laugh:

[Kate!]

As much as I could get away with. Xx

[Crimson Dynamo]

tabs, scud mags, drugs, bevvy

normal healthy kids stuff

[Cherie]

cigarette smoking, bit of alcohol consumption, the usual stuff

[Vicky.]

I only kept things secret very short term..as my parents were very 'laid back' with most of the things other parents would be horrified by. Drinking, cigs, drugs, partners...all fine to do 'openly' (meaning, in my room...or when younger siblings were not present) as long as I didnt take the piss with it.

Their reasoning, and I agree now as a parent tbh...they will do it anyway, so might aswell be as safe as possible while doing it. Like, them telling me not to get pissed, would not stop me getting pissed, it would just make me go do it outside in the woods or something with a group of mates. If it was sort of normalised too...it becomes vastly less attractive to teenagers...or I know that worked for me :laugh:

[Niamh.]

Lied about loads of the usual stuff, skipping school, where I was going etc. I did also have two pet mice called Pearl and Jam that i managed to hide in my bedroom for a couple of years :laugh:

[user104658]

I do actually remember, when I was about 11, pretending that I had fallen down the stone steps outside our house when I left to go to school because I didn't want to go. I actually lay on the pavement and really hammed it up, said my back was really sore, must have done a good job as my mum wanted to take me to the hospital but I was like "no... no I... I just need to rest... " hahaha. I just fancied a day off.