This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Eldest daughter’s 16th birthday party was the eye-opener and hosting teenage parties have continued to deteriorate, as an experience for husband and I, ever since.
I love my children’s friends when they are sober but drunk they become loud, totally disrespectful to property and a real responsibility to us. Once they hit 18 years old at least other parents can have no complaint that it was my fault their precious child got drunk, as my argument then is that since they can now vote I think they can also take responsibility for their own actions.
There are many unhappy memories of teenage parties over the years but one that springs to mind was when husband and I were on holiday in Turkey and we got a phone call from neighbours, back in the UK, that our daughters seemed to be entertaining most of the local male population and even when the daughters went to work their friends just carried on partying!
On another occasion we returned after a party, or gathering as they call it, and found a door handle snapped in half, plenty of red wine stains, chewing gum stuck to tables, chairs, and trodden into the floor and of course the inevitable cigarette butts liberally distributed both inside and out!
I have friends who have hosted a party for their daughter but the invitation hit the internet and 400 rather than 40 turned up and their staircase collapsed, amongst other disasters, and they were charged by the police, who were called by the neighbours, as they were the adults responsible for the party.
And the occasion that topped it all was when Eldest Daughter, aged 14 years, had 4 friends around to watch a dvd and one pair (thankfully not Eldest Daughter) went missing only to be found naked and in a compromising position in the bathroom doing something I don’t think I even knew about at 14. My then 10 year old youngest son later asked his father if girls like that, i.e. ones who would strip naked etc., would be about when he was 14!!