COMMENT: A cautionary tale for parents of teenagers

THIS week I was contacted by a regular reader of this column and asked to write about her recent experience of a teenage party held in her home to celebrate her child’s birthday.

Despite having some misgivings, the teen’s parents reluctantly agreed to the party, subject to strict conditions. No alcohol would be available in the house and the party would be supervised by five adults. 

What could go wrong? Everything, by all accounts. 

The originally agreed guest list was swollen by ‘plus ones’ as news of the party went viral on social media, with uninvited teenagers scaling the back garden walls to join in the festivities. At its height, there were more than 120 ‘guests’, with a minority of them rampaging through the house.

The majority of teenagers were aged 16 or under. Many of those who hadn’t arrived drunk brought spirits concealed in soft drink bottles. Despite the best efforts of the adults, the party soon began to spiral out of control, with some teenagers attempting to smoke cannabis and young couples engaged in inappropriate activity out the back garden. 

A number of parents had to be contacted after their children became sick from excess drinking. The marquee that had been erected was taken down to prevent it from being torn apart. 

Much to the embarrassment – and relief – of the hosts, gardaí were eventually called by a neighbour and the arrival of a patrol car caused some of the more problematic youths to quickly leave the scene.

The incident was not just a wake-up call for the parents, but also for their teenager who was shocked by the antics and is now re-evaluating many so-called friendships.

The teenager’s mother admits they “got away lightly”, even though the entire downstairs of their home had to be redecorated afterwards and the incident has caused friction with some of her neighbours. She stressed that the majority of those attending were well-behaved.

She hopes that by highlighting her experience, it will serve as a cautionary tale to other parents who are under pressure to host teenage birthday parties at home. Social media and trashy reality TV programmes, she believes, are largely to blame for a sharp decline in teenage morality, with young people becoming sexualised earlier and put under pressure to conform to a reckless, dysfunctional lifestyle.

As for the kids themselves? They were in touch the next day to say what a brilliant time they’d had.