Is a 16th birthday special?

No. Unless you want to impress on him that he's now free to leave home.

Or have sex with someone over the age of sixteen.

In America they seem to make a big thing of girls' 16th birthdays, with the revolting sounding "sweet 16" parties!

Once upon a time, 21 was the magic birthday to celebrate. Then it crept back to 18. Now 16. How soon before just getting into double figures is enough?

My younger grandson makes sure all of his birthdays are deemed "special"!

We usually give the GC a sum of money (since they are always skint and parents don't have much spare).

I think we gave extra cash on the 16th birthdays of GC who are now 23 and 25.

Petallus I keep a file in Excel of all the gifts of money I have given to DCs and DGCs.
It's very useful sometimes

Janerowena I composed a cryptic message, referring to Philip Larkin and when sexual intercourse began, but deleted it, thinking that Petallus might be offended.
You obviously have no such scruples

My GD was 16 last week and wanted no special fuss, she didn't want any thing more than a meal with the family. However I noticed extended family did give her more than is usual so perhaps some people do regard it as more special than others. We upgraded her to an iPhone so at present we are very popular.

In my day it was the 21st which was celebrated, then it became the 18th and now it appears to be the 16th - when will it end? I am sure it will go down well in the commercial community

My grandson (adopted and autistic) was 16 last month, and requested just to have a meal with all those he regards as family around him.
I thought this was lovely, and appropiate.

janeainsworth no I wouldn't be offended because I know that none of my GC could possibly be getting up to anything.

I thought the same about my parents except for the twice which accounts for me and my brother!

annsixty that was a good present, an iPhone.

GS is largeing it with a big party, joint with his girlfriend. It is to be held at her parents' rather roomy house. GC and girlfriend are going as the two main characters out of Grease.

Apart from that, it will be a family gathering at his father's house.

Didn't 16 year olds get a vote in the Scottish referendum? Maybe 16 is the new 18.
When my mother was a child (one of ten siblings), they had a cake and party for their seventh, fourteenth and twentyfirst birthdays. That meant they had one as a child, one as a teenager and one to mark adulthood. I thought that was rather a good idea. Children's parties get so competitive and expensive and there are so many of them.

janeinainsworth what on earth have I ever posted that made you think I had scruples?

I wrote it because that is exactly what my daughter did. I suppose I should have been pleased that she waited until then, nowadays. I looked at her the next day, after her party, and just KNEW. Much to her initial horror, but she said that she was so relieved to just get it out of the way!

And as at that time I had a six year old who was still waking in the night to go to the loo, I felt pretty much the same way!

Crikey! That would have been TMI for me janerowena

I think I'm with petallus on this one!

So was I, until then! It's a huge shock, I'd rather not have known.

I never understand how people have 18th AND 21st special birthdays, it should be one or t'other.I suppose 16 is a bit of a milestone though [you can get married] apart from anything else.I don't think we did anything special for our children at that age though we did for their 18th [and not 21st.]

Neil Sedaka?
Tonight's the night I've waited for....

I work with adolescents and they do seem to regard 16 as a bit of a milestone birthday. I left school at 16 and started work and remember feeling I was quite grown up then. With regards to having sex they seem to be in two camps half having sex before 16 and often not just with one boy either ( very sad) and the other half thinking them very stupid and deciding that they are not sleeping with anyone at all for ages thanks. Teenagers are very complicated and very individual.