Be the house where the friends come
Teenagers need somewhere that is not a bedroom and not a street. Somebody's kitchen is the whole infrastructure.
The BeingKind editorsPublished How this is written
Why it lands
Places for young people to simply be have largely disappeared, and what is left is expensive or policed. Being the household that tolerates six teenagers and an empty fridge is a real, unglamorous contribution — it gives them somewhere warm and safe, and it gives you a view of your own child's world that no amount of questioning would produce.
How
Feed them, be visible but not hovering, and do not interrogate. Have the food they actually eat. Accept the noise and the mess as the price of knowing where they are.
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