A Father Receives a Mysterious Coded Message from His Son and Realises He Must Act Without Delay

Picture this: your teenage son or daughter is out on the town with friends, painting the city redprobably just munching supermarket meal deals on park benches, but you know, still. As any decent, lightly neurotic English parent would, you give your child a quick ring to check theyre surviving out there on the mean streets of Nottingham or wherever. They sound a bit twitchy and awkward, but assure you all is jolly fine. Of course, a few days later you hear theyve tried their first cider or, worse, ended up dancing disgracefully to Come On Eileen.

The Reverend Bernard Fox, pastor and long-suffering dad, was no stranger to these rites of passage. As a vicars son himself, Bernard knew full well how hard it can be to say no when everyones hollering Down it! at you. Bernard trusted his youngest, Olivia, but he knew trust alone wouldnt save her from teenage peer pressurenor from the endless supply of WKD blue. What Olivia needed was an escape hatch, a secret code she could use to tap out when things got dodgy, without looking like a total lemon in front of her mates.

The brainwave struck Rev. Fox after chatting to troubled teens at a local support centre in Manchester. Bernard would ask them, Put your hand up if youve ever done something you hated, something scary or mortifying, just because you were terrified your mates would rip into you otherwise? And boomup went the hands, a resigned sea of Yeah, been there, suffered that.

Bernard put pen to paper and came up with this: before Olivia headed off to a party, he told her, If at any point things feel wrong or you want out, just text an X to any of usme, your mum, your brother, or big sister. Whomever got the code would then call Olivias phone within the next five minutes. Heres roughly how the conversation would go:

Hello, love? Olivia, somethings cropped up and I need to come and get you right away. Why, whats happened? Ill explain when I see you. Be outside in five. Im on my way.

Olivia could then confidently turn to her pals and say, Ah, sorry everyone, got to dashfamily emergency. This way, Olivia didnt do a runner, she just had, you know, pressing family business, which everyone in England knows is code for strict parents, leave it. The result? Olivia trusted her dad more, felt safer socialising, and next time, didnt panic quite so much when someone cracked open another bottle of Strongbow.

And heres the main thing: never, under any circumstances, betray your childs trust once youve set up a system like this. One quick way to lose a teenager is to leave them high and dry when they need you most. But if you manage to build this kind of trustwell, that, my friends, is worth more than a hundred pounds tucked in a birthday card. Even if they still forget to text when they get home.