A Poll - If you were a little (or a lot) wild as a youth...

I got good grades, was a cheerleader and participated in a lot of clubs. My parents were clueless about my after school activities.

I was an angel.

I was class valedictorian, every teacher's favorite, captain of the dance team, got a full scholarship to the college of my choice, had a job that was supposed to be for someone much older (auditor). I was literally a textbook perfect example of a responsible young person.

I lost my virginity at 15 to a college football player.

I drank. Sometimes I drank a lot.

I had an eating disorder.

I hit a car and drove away and never got caught,

I lied about spending the night at a friend's house and spent the night with my boyfriend instead.

I got a hotel room with my boyfriend after prom.

I went to a sex shop and bought vibrators and restraints.

I had a lot of sex. Sometimes with adult men. Sometimes with boys my own age.

My parents still have no idea about any of it.

I was an honor student, took part in lots of school activities including student government, had many super great friends, went to church, got along well with my brothers and sisters etc. I really was a decent kid and I was very lucky because my kids were the same.

I was an angel... I think the most rebellious thing I did was sneak out once to go bowling with my friends. I took my 13-year-old sister with me, so that tells you how wild we were. I was sweet 16, never attended a party with alcohol or drugs (didn't even know anyone that did that), and graduated high school without ever swearing or seeing an R-rated movie. (Mormons gotta Morm.)

My parents thought I was awful, though. I can't tell you how many times I got in trouble for something they thought I did or was thinking of doing. I think, to this day, they still think I was the most rebellious of their 8 kids.

ETA: If I met my teenage self, I would probably slap her.

I don't know, honestly.

For dance we danced 6 hours a day, plus we ran and we weight trained. We worked even more over the summer. So I burned a ton of calories. It was certainly plausible that I would be crazy skinny just from that.

But surely they noticed I never ate.

My now husband, then boyfriend is the one who made me deal with it. My first year of college I passed out and fell down a flight of steel edged cement stairs in the philosophy building. A classmate found me and got my cell phone out of my purse and called the last number I had called, which was my boyfriend. He came and got me.

There were a lot of other things going on. I grew up in a hoarder house and had real issues with food because of all the gross things in our house. Being hungry and opening the fridge only to find food moldy to the point of maggots really gave me eating problems. I couldn't get better until I moved out.

I didn't have a lot of structure or limits growing up so I imposed my own. I never had to lie about where I was going or what I was doing. My mom was the one parent who new we were going to bars and dancing/drinking. I was not a fan of drugs so steered clear of those. I didn't have sex until I left home and really didn't understand why my friends were putting out for all these creepy guys and they didn't even enjoy it.

Define wild.

I'd say my mom knew parts, but not all. She had an uncanny knack for waking me up at the asscrack of dawn to yard work after a particularly wild night of drinking. In retrospect, I think that she knew more than she let on but was giving me consequences without having to deal with confrontations.

I was a pretty wild child, I'm pretty open about it. Alcohol was my 'drug' of choice, but other drugs made their appearances with regularity. Not much out there that I haven't done or watched someone else do, so I think I am pretty aware of what signs to look for. I haven't given the boys details, but enough information so that discussions we have they know I am not just not talking out my ass. It has led to some pretty frank (am sometimes uncomfortable) discussions.

Good news: I grew up, got responsible, have a college degree, have a pretty awesome family, and am in book club (   ) I am so boring these days that if my 20 year old self met me she would be shocked to the point of speechlessness.

I was a really good kid and only went slightly astray once I was 18 and almost out of high school. I was on the honor roll every semester and was in sports so I didn't want to mess around with alcohol or drugs because using any of that could get you kicked off the team. Plus I had a sibling that died of a drug overdose so I was keenly aware of what messing around with drugs could get you, had a couple siblings that became unwed teenage parents (one kept the kid, one gave the kid up for adoption) so I saw firsthand what messing around with sex would get you. The motto that I lived by was "Only be willing to get yourself into what you are able to get *yourself* OUT of." Worked for me.

I skipped a few classes, drank a few beers (after my sport's season ended senior year), stayed out late sometimes. My mom didn't always know where I was but knew who I was with. That was about it. My older siblings caused my mom enough grief for three lifetimes and I didn't want to be a major contributor to her stress.

I wasn't an angel, but I wasn't wild either. I've never gotten drunk, or did drugs of any kind. I waited until I was a little older than some for the sex, too. Then I married a 44 year old trucker when I was 18. But I loved him, and it worked out well for 13 years until he passed away. It certainly sounded wild though, at the time.

He's a good guy.

That's why I married him

I was a great student, and in my parents' world, that meant I had unlimited trust and would never do anything I wasn't supposed to. Plus, I came after an older brother who was an angel, so they assumed I'd be the same, I guess. I took full advantage of that trust and never got caught for a damn thing. I was outrageously lucky- both that I didn't get caught and that nothing bad happened.

My husband was convinced they knew I was doing stuff I shouldn't but just didn't want to deal with it. Well, at Thanksgiving when I was about 30, he brought up a story I'd told him about sneaking out (just one of the many many times), my mother's reaction made it obvious they never had a clue. I think she wanted to spank me right then and there LOL

I had a bit of wild streak -- enough to know not to blindly trust my kids when they are teenagers. I wasn't nearly as bad as my friends, but WAY worse than my brothers. My mom knew some of it and probably suspected there was more. I'm just glad that nothing really bad happened to me or my friends. Looking back, we did some stupid shit.

I was a good kid, had a great boyfriend and great friends. I was given a lot of freedom, could pretty much do what I wanted. Because they trusted me, I didn't want to disappoint them so I behaved. I never had to sneak around because anything I wanted to do was reasonable, and my parents let me. My boyfriends usually had cars and did the driving, so whenever their curfew was, I was taken home right before. They usually had a 12:30 curfew (11th, 12th grade).  If I was ever going to be out later, all I had to do was find a payphone and call.  My mom usually waited up not because she was worried, but because she couldn't wait to hear about my date! 

My brother is 3 yrs. younger. He wasn't as well behaved as I was, and my parents weren't too fond of his friends. He didn't have as much freedom as I did. His senior year of college, he and his girlfriend went to the beach (2 1/2 hrs. away) without telling my parents. Her parents knew and were fine with it. Well, my parents were furious and he got in a lot of trouble. That was his sneaking out! Funny, but after college, my parents grew to really like his friends, and even now they are always invited to his friends kids birthday parties, Christmas parties, etc. And he married his only girlfriend (the one he went to the beach with)!  So it all worked out, the kids that were not a good influence on him in high school turned out great!