Column: What's a teen to do?

What’s a teen to do? It’s Friday night in Ladner or Tsawwassen, and you’re 16.

What do you do?

Can’t go to the pub. Can’t hit the local bowling alley, mostly because there isn’t one. Can’t go to the local movie theatre. Don’t have one of those either.

Okay, so it’s over to a friend’s house, hang out in the Safeway parking lot, or a multitude of other mundane-ish choices.

I had a hairdresser who grew up in Ladner. I asked her how teen life was for her. Were drugs predominant?

Did more kids than not, get into trouble?

Sure, she said. She knows people who had to do rehab in their early twenties. But it wasn’t her crowd. Sport had saved her. It was her gymnastics. She was kept busy. She wasn’t out late on Friday nights because practice was very early the next morning. She wasn’t out drinking, because doing cartwheels and handstands when you’re hungover isn’t all that appealing.

At that time, with very young children, I listened carefully, and figured that was quite possibly a good route for me to pursue with my younguns. Keep my kids so busy in sport, they wouldn’t have time to get into mischief.

Get em exhausted. Wear them right out. They’d be too tired to try and sneak out windows or stay out past curfew.

Sounds plausible, right? Yet there is a fallacy, one I have recently learned. It costs a lot of money to keep three young children busy with sport. It also takes a lot of time. And requires endless driving and organizing.

Factor in working, family time, and downtime, and what is left for fun? Not to mention burnt out kids who crave a quiet night at home.

So, good intent, but not so good when they have to get up for school. Also not great when there is homework to do. Nor when they want a play date.

So, I come back around to the same question. Why is it that South Delta does not have many options for teens? Sure, Silvercity in Richmond is a bus ride away, but it’s a bus ride. Or it’s a ride from mom and dad. And who really wants that, at 16, with friends?

I grew up in a small town up north. It was about the same size as our darling suburbs here. We had a movie theatre, and a bowling alley. We also had an arcade. Sure, we ran out of things to do. Sure we got bored, too. Wandered the streets looking for trouble. But at least we had options.

Why can’t a town this size, and now, apparently with a population large enough to support a mega mall, justify some kind of entertainment for teens or teens-to-be.

Where else, in the Lower Mainland, can you find such a lack of teen-appropriate facilities close at hand? I’m more than a little nervous about our turn, a few short years from now.

My best bet? Perhaps to win the lottery, so I can pay for all the sports and activities we’ll need to pursue.

Christine Thompson is a freelance advertising copywriter by trade, living in, where else? South Delta. You can reach her at jellybeancom@eastlink.ca.