Thought processes of today's teens

Oh dear! Don't stand still too long jingl - Heaven only knows what colour you'd end up

I have been quite shocked by some of the things my granddaughter says (she's 14). She goes to a rather posh grammar school but says things like 'one of the girls in my class self harms because she is so unhappy'.

Paint spraying the flap of your school bag used be one of our favourite things jings many years ago you could repaint it when you fell out with the current boyfriend and then add a new name
It sounds like you have a DGS like mine who can't keep his hands off anything that can be sprayed,wait until he graduates to bike frames then the fun will begin.

So long as it's not the frame of my bike Glamma!

Oy yes. At that age they are really starting to absorb grown up stuff. It is a precarious age to be in many ways.
The worse part for mine, was when friends or friends of friends told them that they were pregnant and were thinking about an abortion. And they hadnt told the parents, and were told not to.
Very heavy stuff for early teens to have to deal with.

My grandson isn't a teen, only 9, and arriving today for a 4-day visit.

I save the cardboard tube from kitchen towels for him to make things with - in the past it's always been guns but last time I said let's see if you can make something other than a pesky gun!

Using other craft supplies in addition to the tubes he produced a very elaborate road system with ramps and shutes - it took up the whole of the sitting room floor space.

I've extra supplies of sellotape, staples and elastic bands in anticipation.

jings regarding your GS's fears about being shot - I once had to phone the police as a group of young teens were playing around in the early hours of the morning with a BB gun - I could see that they really were playing but was worried that if they went out into the main road they could have been mistaken for armed criminals and been shot!

A BB gun can do actual damage. My GD's half brother had a near miss when a pellet hit his face, close to the eye.

My GSs do not have BB guns. It is a Nerf gun with foam 'bullets'.

My two love having shoot-outs with their big kid of an uncle.

They have done building projects and suchlike with cardboard rolls etc, in the past. Although , if I remember rightly, it was their aunty who did most of the work.

Jingl, your DGS sounds like Mr Pooter in The Diary Of A Nobody, who buys a tin of red enamel and goes around the house painting things, ending up by doing the bath.Later in the week he takes a bath, a hot one, and thinks he is bleeding to death.

My grandson has been 13 for less than a month and wishes he was still twelve because everything has gone wrong since he was thirteen!

It can be a horrible time. Especially nowadays.
I know a girl of 10. And know she has only a couple of years left of total innocence.

We all have to grow up sometime.

I like it delayed as long as possible. Young people are then ever so slightly able to better handle very grown up issues.
I am speaking generally.

I'm not sure how that would work. How can you delay it, and if you could, how would that enable young people to handle grown up issues any better? One cancels out the other.

durhamjen there is a terrific Harry Enfield sketch with Kevin the Teenager. Kevin on the eve of his 13th birthday is a delightful little boy telling mummy and daddy how excited he is about his birhday, then as the birthday dawns he morphs into a shouty, spotty, teenager who hates his parents. Will see if I can find the link.

We have had our 13 year old DGS here all day today. It used to be easy. I would get out the art and craft stuff and he'd be happy for ages or until Grandad set the model railway going in the garage. Now he spends all his time looking at a screen and 'talking' to his friends via the internet. I offered to get out the paints and canvasses but could tell he was not interested, then I went and sat with him and tried to have a conversation, then I suggested he call his friend round the corner to see if they could meet up. Nothing worked so after lunch we announced we were going for a walk round the lake and he would have to come with us. Surprisingly, that worked, and he spent a seemingly contented hour or so learning the names of wild flowers. There's just no telling what a 13 year old will enjoy. Incidentally, DGS is referred to as 'Kevin' by his dad, GillT57.

My grandson has ASD, so whatever is going on in his head comes out of his mouth as he hasn't learnt to keep it in yet.
We went to Gibside today, and he decided he could not have an icecream as he hadn't been a very nice brother on the way up to the Stables. Fortunately by the time we reached the cafe he had helped me sufficiently to have forgiven himself and accept an icecream with good grace.