I agree that trying to be your teen's buddy or hoping to impress them with how cool you were at that age. BUT - talking to your kids about your own behavior can be very helpful when you stick your parent-child boundaries. Especially if you have started a dialogue with them before they hit the teenage years, where you open up with a story or thought, hear what they have to say about it, and then respond with your own thoughts as their parent. Not as friends trying to top each other with crazy stories over a beer, as parents and children discussing life.

Yes, being proud of the mistakes you've made can send mixed messages, and using them as excuses to lecture your kids will only turn them off. Use them as jumping off points for healthy conversations - don't kid yourself, if you don't bring up these issues with your kids they'll just hear it somewhere else and if they're not comfortable coming to you to talk, they won't know how to figure out how to deal with it.

Great advice Angie, something i hadnt thought of before. Interesting thought to ponder!

You should the the teenagers about your past both the good and the bad. For if they try to pull a fast one on you , then you can look them straight in their adorable eyes and tell them that is why if you try it I will know, because you been there and done that.

Of course only to a certain extent. I leave that to to parent's discretion. No one is entitled to know about all of your past unless you feel like telling them.

i may only be 23 but i do believe that sharing your past with your children is not a bad idea. my mother did that with me through out my teens and i am so grateful for that because without that knowledge i wouldn't be that person today. and when my daughter comes to me with a problem that i can relate to then yes i will tell her about my past where that subect is concerned 

Simple it may seem, I see not the problem with informing your children about your past and if they try and blackmail you with it then there is a breakdown in communication in other areas.

I only said to my daughter the other day that she should behave how she would one day like her children behave. I forget the whole conversation we were having but I turned it into something all about her and I could see some cogs of thought.

I have believed for a long time that many of the teenage tv shows have become defacto parents for the kids of today and it is this that we are struggling with. Put an axe through it and buy them a musical instrument. And when all thier friends have a mobile phone give them money to call home as mobiles just become anti social devices.

wow i HEAR MANY OF YOU SAY...THIS GUY IS RIGHT OF THE PLANET. Move over Hitler...but I am a softy at heart and my kids know it.

Robert

I have a theory that no ones Mum was a virgin when they met their father.  That just happens when you have a child.

I agree with some of that and can see that this mother had told WAY TOO much.

But I must say that your child also needs to know that we were once children too and have had many child experiences. They should understand that we are people too and have made some mistakes and had fun.

My parents shared nothing with my brother and I and we thought (when we were young) that they were just born parents and knew nothing about being young. We also knew nothing about their past or how they were before they became our parents. I think I want my children to know I am and was real and had a life before they were born. But I would never tell them anything that may shine me in a bad light or make me sound like I was a wild young child doing all the wrong things.

These were just my thoughts

my boys dad has made that mistake with them telling them how naughty he was when he was a teen ,, ive told him countless times you cant tell them things like that now are they are teens and it might come back and bite  you in your bum if they do the same things as you have ,,

and also since they live with me and not him it might make my life with them alot harder to keep them safe aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh foot in mouth he has ,,

he also told the boys a few stories about me also NOT happy jan ,, my responce was to my boys I might of done a few silly things But I never went as far as being in dangour and two i was 15 when i moved out of home cause I had to ,, i also had to be very responcable and survive and i never had parents that loved me or even gave me the guidence that I have been with you ,,