General Chat

your 16 year old self today, what would she/he say to you?

have more confidence in yourself ,what your big bro says isnt true you are a nice looking girl and some guy will want you!! You are girly even tho you are 5ft 9 ,yes you aint all frills and bows but elegant girls can cut the mustard too !!

Rather this is what i would say to my sixteen year old self. SHE would probably say to me that she wont ever get married as no one would want her and please can I go back to my Aunty Mary and Uncle Henry cos I loved living with them .Was a london evacuee at 2 and these people took me in and brought me up for 5 plus years and i still stayed with them from time to time)

My 16 year old self, would look at me and say , " if you had shorter hair you would look like my mother , only older " :)

( we would be the same age actually)

I think my 16 year old self would say.
"See, I said it would last!"

She might also say, "you are turning into your Mother..... Don't!"

My 16 year old self would say " I wish I had worked harder at school" instead of mucking around and not taking education seriously .But I know I will turn out ok in the end lol .My 16 year old self had the brains ,but didn't use them.

Mine too Jane

When I think what I could have done and become makes me want to kick that 16 year old me.Thank goodness my 2 have had the brains and sense to do something with them.

If only we had known these things Mac. Do you know that is why they turned you down? A friend, brought up in a council house, in the Fleet Air Arm with OH went for a flying commission and got it, only problem was he didn't like heights and gave up because he didn't like flying.

OH brought up in a council house was offered a commission (not flying) but decided it was not for him so came out.

I don't know what the 16 year old would say to me, but I know I'd give her a good slap and tell her to grow up, and I'd tell her not to keep letting people blame her for everything.

My 16 yr old self would say ..hey listen up
stop being worried about what people would say
you've got the get up and go , so go for it stand up for your self
dont let others talk you out of doing what right for you .. Hazelx

I think my 16 year old self should have given herself a good kick up the backside lol

Interesting question, Ann but I don't think my 16 year old self would get a word in with all the advice and warnings I'd be giving him;)

My brother says that he was despised at grammar school because Dad was a dustman at the time. One of many jobs he had and changed when he got bored! I never had that experience at my grammar school, and the fact that I was a grammar school girl gave me a head start at any job I went after. Was told at one place that they hadnt any jobs in the office, but I went after a shop floor Job! In between nursing jobs.

Dear All

Hello

I would tell my younger self to hold her head up and have confidence.

I would say ignore the snipes and spiteful behaviour from some people and that you can achieve much, without a degree.

I would also say stick two fingers up at those who look down their nose!

Take care
Very best wishes

My 16 year old self, would look at me in surprise and say-

You always said that you were going to travel, so why didn't you.
You said that you wanted to do Am. Dram. so what happened.
You used to like to write, now you hardly ever even write a letter.. what excuses have you got for not bothering.


On the other hand, I think that she would be pleased that I took myself off to college at age 39.
That I survived divorce. And that I bought and paid for a house (albeit an old terrace one in the inner city) alone.

I think my 16-yr-old self would look at me and say ... oh ... so that's who I am ...


At 16 I was just getting out from under the class discrimination I grew up with. I was from the East End of London ... London, Ontario, Canada. The North London kids I went to school with were just, well, North London, and me and the handful of other eastenders ... weren't. My dad was a salesman, theirs were doctors and lawyers.

At a reunion of that class 30 years later (we were 10, 11 and 12 at the time), one of my east ender friends didn't attend. I hadn't seen her since I was 16, but I knew why. She was like I was at 12: not cute, not athletic, and not rich. And from the east end. We didn't get invited to the birthday parties.

At my table was Sarah. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a lawyer. I mentioned how "SL" didn't seem to be there. Sarah concentrated for a minute, and then said ... SL ... SL ... her father was a BUS DRIVER!!!

She didn't remember that SL was brilliant and witty, or know that she got a doctorate in history from a prestigious university and was working with battered women. Just that her father was a bus driver. Of all the things for a *child* to notice about someone.

I don't know what Sarah was, other than divorced, rich, obnoxious and stupid.

I would have said to me at 16, live each day for what it is, stop worrying about the future, and stop feeling responsible for your mother's happiness. What happened to her in her life was not your fault and you can't live your life to please her, despite all the pressure from relatives.Be you and be proud of who you are! I think I might have also said get away from home if possible. I would have also told myself that I would grow into my Olive Oyl looks and that men do make passes at girls who wear glasses!

I never noticed any class prejudice at all. I lived in a council house, my mother didn't work but was very clingy of me and even made me go home for lunch as we lived close to the school instead of letting me have school lunches and so become more integrated with others who came from all over the city to our new senior school, which was the first co-ed grammar in Norwich. My father worked at a brewery as a Timekeeper and first port of call for visitors and draymen etc and we never owned a car. We were never well off, always had to have school uniform bought on the provi from the Co-op, and it's disgusting that that uniform was a different colour green albeit the correct colour so that if you had a blazer from the better stores it would be a softer green and very obviously different. Maybe my mother didn't want me stigmatised by having free meals and thought it was cheaper and easier to cook at lunchtime, it wasn't fun trying to eat and get back to school, especially when it rained or snowed and I got wet 4 times a day instead of just twice. Never stayed for a school lunch or sandwiches all my schooldays.

Oh to be able to turn back the hands of time.

Lizx

Funny that.My hypnotherapist set my deep inner mind of the present to comfort the young Sharron and now I understand the situation better I would tell the sixteen year old Sharron that she is in no way bad and she is coping as best she can with huge psychological abuse with no help. The failure is not on her part.
I would like to take her in and help her reach some of her potential.A modicum of praise would be a start!

Easy peasy.... you are stunningly beautiful, you are perfect, you are not fat, but otherwise just get on and enjoy my life just like I have.

No-one told me I was pretty until I started going out with hubby at 16... I was told I was the ugly sister with the brain...... I was huge and massive... compared to my mother who was virtually anorexic! My backside was huge and I had sturdy footballers legs, I was told... not what a 16 year old in the Twiggy era wanted to hear, lolol!!

But the photos I now have say otherwise. Of course, I AM rather large now, lolol!!

Love

Daff xxxxx

Some very good replies here, thank you.