Dialogue is important in the teen years more than ever because we live in a dark and dangerous world.
When the teenage years hit, as a parent you are thrown into confusion. Life is turned upside down. The child you have brought up is different and the easy relationship you once had has gone. Does this all sound familiar?
I don’t know when things changed with my son, now 16. He was a warm, bubbly toddler, always laughing but as the teen years progressed he became quieter, more sullen. He used to spend his time in the lounge watching Dr. Who but now he only comes out of his room for food or to use the bathroom. Yes it’s a depressing situation as a parent. The big D word has all but gone – there’s very little dialogue and I have no idea what he gets up to in his bedroom.
One day everything changed. I discovered what he was really doing in his bedroom. An agonizing few months followed. I turned what happened into a novel, based loosely on the events that happened. Was he planning a terrorist attack? Or was he being groomed by an older man? Or was he planning to build a bomb or make drugs?
‘Every Family Has One’ is loosely based on my own experiences of raising teenagers – the trials and tribulations we as parents face and how we might be able to turn the tough situations around and get talking again. Here’s the link:
One reader said:
“My eyes were opened to the tremendous difficulties faced by parents bringing up children in the 21st century.
The World Wide Web enables the young to be constantly in contact, both with each other, and with more sinister connections. This potentially opens the door to all kinds of deviant behaviour, a topic upon which Joanna Warrington writes with seamless authority.
The themes of depression, death, inept parenting and teenage angst all figure in this novel, tempered by the author’s light touch and sure grasp of the time and tides the story encompasses.”
It’s scary raising a teenager especially in today’s Internet age. Yesterday the media discussed the tragic events surrounding the death of 14 year old Breck Bednar, sadistically murdered by Lewis Daynes a 19 year old after months of talking in an on-line gaming forum. Breck’s mother grew increasingly concerned that Daynes was manipulating her son – at one stage she confronted him online – before contacting Surrey police over strong fears that he was being groomed and manipulated by the older man. Despite this report, the family believe no action was taken to prevent Daynes carrying out the killing two months later.
Do we really know what our teenagers are doing on-line? Tim in ‘Every Family Has One’ is planning something sinister through the dark web.