My son had a group of friends over for his 16th birthday the other night. He brought up the idea of them having alcohol at the gathering, there were only seven of them there, a mix of girls and boys. I don't condone it, but I know he's had a drink at a party, my conversations with him now are all about being sensible and responsible. I wasn't keen for it to happen, and neither were the parents I spoke to. Don't kids hate it when the parents get along and are having conversations about them? I love it.
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He said a beer would loosen them up, and I said so would a game of Twister, so when the kids arrived I unfurled the plastic mat and handed him the spinner. Left foot on yellow.
In the end, they spent the night tangling limbs, playing table tennis, eating cake, and generally having a good time.
After everyone had gone home, and he was helping me tidy up, I was telling him about the parties I attended around the same age. I can't remember alcohol being a big thing, nor drugs, nor smoking in the early 1980s. I probably did move in a very tame crowd, if I'm honest. Hard-working middle-class kids in a small town. There was plenty of opportunity for trouble but we didn't really go looking for it.
At your age, I was telling him, parties involved a lot of spin the bottle, truth, kiss and dare, hide and seek. Indeed, while he and his mates were busy in the next room, I messaged a couple of school mates, reminiscing about a party the four of us attended that is still burned into my memory as one of the best experiences of my young life. Remember that moment you first kiss a boy, an awkward tongue in your mouth, with the promise that if you work out what you're doing this could be very pleasurable? That was this party. Us old folk laughed at the shift in priorities, reminisced a bit, and wondered why we were all up so late.
God bless my boy, he's open to all sorts of conversations with his mother. But this idea was too much for him. Awkward mum, he said, putting his fingers in his ears and giving me a good la la la. The family response to not listening.
The idea that his mother might have been doing some such thing close to 40 years ago was too much for him.
I wonder then how he might feel if he knew I was having it now. Not that I am, ha. But plenty of old people are.
New research from Lumen, the dating app exclusively for the over 50s, suggests a third of Australians over 50 are having the best sex of their life.
Lumen co-founder Charly Lester said there was too much stigma around older people enjoying a healthy sex life.
"But with the average person over 50 having sex at least twice a month, the sex survey proves that the fun definitely doesn't stop when you turn 50 - in fact for many, it gets better," she said.
"The research clearly shows that most Aussies over 50 are enjoying active - if not adventurous - sex lives, and won't stop having sex until they are physically unable to.
"Unlike their younger counterparts, more free time, less external pressures and an increase in self confidence as well as a better understanding of their personal sexual preferences, means that this generation is often experiencing the best sex of their lives."
The research also showed that the average Australian over 50 was having sex twice a month, and the sessions lasted 24 minutes. (Not sure I'd be happy with either of those low counts.)
Sadly, 41 per cent of respondents felt they had become less adventurous in their sex lives. Lower libido (49 per cent), chronic pain (30 per cent) and body insecurities (18 per cent) were the main culprits.
Of those who did feel more sprightly than ever before, 57 per cent put it down to having less inhibitions as they age, and 24 per cent simply have more time now.
A number of respondents in the survey were over 80, so there's plenty of time left to bring my statistics back up to scratch.
Not that my son wants to think about that at all.