Traveller Ralf Potts wrote, “Walk until your day become interesting’. With children you have to make the interesting.
I was seriously ambivalent about being the mother of teenagers. In the weeks running up to my youngest become a teenager, I found it a stretch. I know other mothers feel the same. Both boys have Birthdays within 8 days of each other. (Friends with children in their twenties, and even a Great Grandfather gave me sympathetic but wear looks.)
In the face of this transition, I organised a walk with all my friends, along the Hamble River in Hampshire. The “Now We are Teenagers Walk”. It met with every kind of resistance from my eldest who was appalled at my misguided (‘uncool’) venture. Regardless of my grumbling troops, on a mild, blue sky day in mid-November we met at the Mermaid Café in Universal Marina, walked along the River Hamble, and returned for tea and cakes. It was a great success for all, teenagers and adults. The weather was good, friends showed up, and there were woods along the way for teenagers regressing to marauding children. Yes, the weather could have been foul and friends could have flaked or had seasonal illnesses. The point is give it a go, and if things unravel, figure it out. One way or another, with friends, it would have been a successful gathering.
I am keen to grow this website, if you have any ideas or contributions please send them to Contact.