Can you remember what it was like when you were 15? Its a long, long time ago for me but especially as I have a 15 year old son.
He is gorgeous, annoying, funny, irritating, clever, dumb, silly, mature and childlike in equal measures. In other words he is a typical teenager.
I was thinking how different his life is from mine at that age. When we did anything stupid at parties or at school, people talked about it and we felt hard done by for a few days and then it was gone. If anyone does anything stupid these days there are pictures, posts, blogs, tweets all about it. There is evidence that is passed around as many people as possible. People at your school, your friends' schools, strangers - in fact anyone with access to the internet.
We've spent a long time with him discussing online safety but cyber bullying isn't something that we've ever really considered. However, after watching a Panorama special that went into it in great detail, I realised how horrendous it can be for young people today. Stupid mistakes can't just be forgotten. Fashion faux-pas are there for time immemorial.
Teen years surely should be all about finding out who you are as a person. Thats hard. You think that you know everything, you feel infallible, consequences aren't forefront in your mind. But now this isn't such an easy option. Random snoggings are photographed and posted. Firmly held beliefs (that of course change next week) are there for others to throw back at you and make you look or feel stupid. It isn't as easy to shrug these things off when there is hard evidence around. People use them against you, especially if they find that it is, in his words "winding you up". The programme told about a young girl who commited suicide following internet bullying - how absolutely heartbreaking is that?
Thinking about it, I want to keep him away from all of this. I can't even begin to consider his two younger brothers and how it will be for them. *runs away singing lah lah lah I can't hear you* I want to protect him, I want to stop him being hurt but I want him to become his own person. How do you do that?
What do you think? Is it easier or harder these days?
Fiona xx
