Would I want to be 17 again, OMG NO!!!!!!!!!

The other day, we watched a movie called, ‘17 again.’  Afterwards, Mountain Man asked me, “Would you want to be a teenager again?”  I think he was surprised by my answer.  I was horrified.  OMG NO!!!!!

Why on earth would I want to do that??? 

When I was seventeen it was just past the ‘70s, into the early ‘80s.  Was the world a different place?  You bet your fanny it was!

Hair was huge; shoulder pads made us all look like football players and for Goddess's sake--Disco was alive and kicking!
(I think I still have my “Disco Sucks!” t-shirt.)

Back then, people really did define the book by the cover.  What you wore was who you were. 
For example; there were the "Preppy Girls" with their cardigans and penny loafers, there were the "Jocks;" there were the "Gino's" with their gold chains and hairy chests; there were the "Rockers" with their Rolling Stone t-shirts. 

What you wore defined who your groups of friends were.  It wasn't stone-clad, you could be a rocker with a preppy friend but it was pretty much a good indication of who you associated with.

 Of course I was a punk rocker because I was a freak!  A Freak was one of the most lonely, soul-destroying ways you could think of yourself.

Worse, I was what they call a "Gingerkid" back then.  I had bright copper hair, freckles, was skinny and a bosom, often described as, "two-fried eggs" or a "board that has never been nailed."

As you can see I had the self-confidence of a tree.

In my case, I was homeless at times, living on the streets or in someone else's house.  This was partially my fault and partly because of my background but that is another story.  It was a stupid choice to make then but all teens make stupid choices.  I just didn't have anyone around to tell me it was stupid. 

Canada was not the States*, in the early 80's we were still a society who's family just didn't talk about sex, abuse, rape, drugs etc....  There just wasn't enough education in the media. 

I know that parents today complain about sex, body image and drugs in media but at least it also includes the strong message to be yourself, has opened the door to conversations in families about these issues and has allowed thousands of men, women and children to speak up. 

I really believe if you monitor your child's access to media, if you educate them and keep a dialogue at all times about what they are seeing or hearing from a young age then the media won't hold the power.

Things our kids take for granted today would have horrified the average teenager.  For example, being gay; one of the bravest people I knew back then was my friend Andy.  He was 17, there was not an effeminate thing about him and he was openly gay.  His family had turned his back on him, society disapproved of him, he was bullied and bashed and yet he still stood up to the world and said, "Whatever buddy, I'm doing your brother behind the football bleachers." 
Now that my friends is a hero!!

Nowadays if I ask Caitlin or Breyan if one of their friends is gay, they answer surprised, "Yeah why?"  (Mostly I just don't want to make the mistake of asking if they have a girlfriend or boyfriend.)  I knew so many people in the closet, not because they were ashamed of being gay, they were afraid they'd lose friends, family and even their life!

You've got to know the world is better place when you’re kids think people who are homophobic are stupid.

Still, even if I'd been normal, I still would never want to be a teen again.  It's a nightmare!

Sure I’d love the better health, the endless energy and the freedom from adult cares.  Yet, why would I want acne, hormonal insanity and decreased ability to make long term decisions?

It's an age where you're body is changing faster than your mind.  Society cannot make up its mind if you are an adult or child.  You are supposed to make the decisions about your career and education that will affect the rest of your life.

As a teenager either then or now, there is just so much fighting for control.  Not just from your parents--even your government can't seem to decide what age is an "adult."  Think about it.  In Ontario, you have to be sixteen to drive a car, move out of home; quit school.  You have to be eighteen to vote and get married and legal drinking age is nineteen.  Which means that you can move out and drive away from high school but you can't vote for the person who made the law that lets you do it?!  You can get married but you can't legally drink your wedding toast?! 

High school is a nightmare.  It doesn't matter how good your school is, how popular you are, there are the times when high school holds downright terror!  Dating, bullies, swarmings it's all just the tip of the iceberg.  There are prisons in third world countries that don't hold half the terrors of the average Canadian high school. 

I once heard the description, "high school is the place where, at the end, they give you a piece of paper that says you made it out alive."

There have been huge strides made to reduce the bullying in schools but they are not enough.  Ask Breyan about getting swarmed by thirty boys and having the cops tell us there was nothing we could do about it...thanks to the Young Offenders Act, they were all too young to charge.  An officer even told my son to get himself a pair of steel toed boots! 

Still, being a teen is easier nowadays.  First of all there is more communication to cut down on the isolation.  There are more resources for getting help when you need it and best of all you can choose any fashion from any decade to wear as long as it looks good!

I swear I saw a girl the other day and I thought, "Hey, she stole my clothes from 1986!"  She was wearing my Clash T-shirt, my skinny jeans with four belts, cut out finger gloves, and my Peter Pan Getaway boots. 

Of course then I thought, “OMG did I look that stupid?”

The generation gap in music has closed, as I know since half my CD's have disappeared.  On any given day I will hear my kids listening to Queen, The Clash, Supertramp or even new renditions of old songs.  I don't know how many times I've thought, "Hey I know the words to that song, how come it doesn't sound right?" 

I have to admit it shocked me one day to listen to a dance tune and realize the words were Air Supply: a band that never made a song you couldn't fall asleep to.  Now that is just wrong!

So would I want to be seventeen again?  Goddess, No!!  It's just too hard.

However I did go buy myself a pair of the Peter Pan boots because they are really comfy.  Of course, being my age I was back in the store buying three hours later buying insoles for support.

Have a good day all.

Kimberley

*it is my theory that Canada waits ten years to pick up a new fad.  We let the States try it first just to see how stupid we’ll look.