‘I have become the mother of a teenager, I don’t want her teen years to be as painful as mine were’

Hope Bonarcher reflects on her own teenage years and says that ’feeling as though I’m doomed to relive my own agonizing teen journey vicariously through my teenager rekindles some of my deepest seated fears.’

Less than a month ago, I became mum to a thirteen year old daughter. There’s no ravenous wolf pack or stranger in the night menacing me, only the reflection of myself; prettier, wiser, with the mixed blessing of hindsight, staring back in the mirror. Only it isn’t me actually… It’s my beloved, blossoming girl. The clouded murkiness of my own regretful past transgressions has distorted my vision.