Adolescent in 2025

My son is turning 14 next week. I feel so blessed to have him, his super smart self is teaching me so much every day. He’s a kid being just a kid, but simultaneously also gradually coming into his own, finding his individual voice. At this point he needs guidance, but is inclined to decide for himself in certain circumstances, the spoon-feeding times are definitely over…

Parenting a teenager is like being a football (soccer) coach on the sidelines, we train them before and in between the 2 halves; their individualisation is getting tested on the pitch during the “actual game”: school playground, social outings with mates, browsing social media…We have no direct input when they’re engaged in those social situations.

In fact, being a parent is not as good as being a coach, as they at least have a front-row seat during the game, whereas we don’t! We can’t be around when they’re interacting with others at school, we can’t be monitoring their phone / computer around the clock, we just let them go out in the world and hope and pray for the best.

Let’s bring this back to the kids – they’re thrust in a world where capitalist sharks market vaping (e-cigarettes) to them using cool manga-like designs and sweet and candy flavors! A world where they have unfiltered access to unimaginable junk information at their fingertips. I was 14 in 1991, it was another era for sure…The internet has changed the game for better and for worse, capitalism is increasingly aggressive, and state governance is weaker, wimpier, powerless.

They are the ones on the pitch fighting for a win.

The brand of teens today might be different from past times, but at the core, kids will need our guidance to play the game. They need strategies and tactics, some bollocking and a good dose of reality check, praise and reassurance, and more importantly unconditional love.

I must give it up to today’s teenagers though; we’ve handed them a nonsensical world, and they are the ones on the pitch fighting for a win.

They have the huge task of undoing our lunacies, I trust they’re smart enough for that.

I hope they’re braver than us, and get that capitalism is NOT the be-all and end-all.