RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32774, 26 November 1971, Page 18

RANDOM REMINDER

DEMO

We parents have a most trying time coping with our youngsters, more particularly those who have burst into their teens and out of their clothes, by the month. The young people today simply do not understand, they have no sense of values, they are wilful .... The teen-agers have their problems too, trying to cope with their parents, more particularly those whose heads are buried in the sands and the past, who are square of outlook, Victorian in their dress and who have no sense of values . . . But there are still some

links, thank heavens. We had a note the other day from a secondary schoolgirl with a tale to tell. She said that according to her father she is one of those terrible teen-agers whose driving should be prohibited by statute. To prove his point, one day while they were together in their old post-war Bedford truck doing a round of the sheep or something, he decided to show her how teen-agers drove. He put the truck into top gear and did a drag (her word) up the paddock. She primly proclaimed that she never drove very fast. To this he said that the

worst thing about teenagers’ driving was the way they stopped, by using all the brakes. At that he put on all the brakes . . . it was a spectacular broadside across most of the paddock, and it ended in the truck tipping over on its side. She ended up on her father’s lap, the father at that time sitting out of the window. It was not really a time for conversation.

Funnily enough, their talk has never been resumed. He has not complained about her driving, ever since . . . But it’s nice that she can talk about it. It’s a good sign.