Does anyone else's teenager have older friends? DS15 has a friend who is 17, over the months he has become really good mates with his friends older brother who is 20. Initially this concerned me, I know the parents, good family etc, I use to think why on earth would a 20yr old want to hang around a 15yr old? Surprisingly though DS has changed, in a good way. Maybe some of his friends maturity is rubbing off on him. He tells him things like to stay in school so you can get a good job. DS now doesn't hang around with his school mates (which secretly makes me very happy) and is looking forward to going back to school .
At 16 I had a good friend who was almost 4 years older than me. We remain friends to this day, and in fact she is the reason I live in Geelong as she emigrated here first. It's lovely your son is looking for friends outside of his normal social group, it sounds like he is really benefiting from their maturity
My kids aren't that old but speaking from a "it wasn't that long ago I was that age" and having teenage nieces and nephews point of view I think it really depends on the person.
I just don't think you can generalise it and say having older friends is good or bad. I think the best indicator is the changes in the younger person. I definitely had some older people lead me astray but then I also had some older people ground me again.
As for my oldest nephew him seems to have grown up a bit in the last 6months since changing friends (most of them are older) which is good news because he was very close to going off the rails. But with my eldest niece it's a very different story. I think they are being a very bad influence on her, she's become a real little trouble maker since hanging out with some older girls/boys in her street.
Glad to hear it seems to be positive for your son though
toomanyshoes you are right it does depend on the person. I think my initial fear was being 20 he may be into alcohol, partying etc and initially I didn't allow DS to go in his car but now that I have got to know him it's ok.
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