With special guest:
- Madonna King
… in conversation with Bill Kable
The latest book by Madonna King is L Platers and it is a fascinating sequel to her previous book Being 14.
Something happens to young girls between the ages of 14 and 18 and all parents need to get an insight as to what to expect and what to be concerned about.
We live in times where the word “unprecedented” has almost been worn out by over usage. But how else to describe these times when for the first time in history we are living through a worldwide pandemic? Covid 19 has limited the usual social interaction and forced many to start living a huge part of their lives online which creates its own problems. Not only is this unprecedented but it is happening when so many choices have to be made in comparison to simpler times. When a personal discussion is called for, parents are likely to be called to centre stage for many of these decisions.
The good news is that Madonna has for the purposes of this book interviewed over 1000 teenagers, parents, teachers and medical experts to find out what the effect of these times is on this age group and to make recommendations on what parents should be doing. And there are a few surprises along the way as we hear from Madonna.
The main concern raised is mental health. What parents need to do is to listen to their children which doesn’t sound too hard. A surprising finding is that children are more ready to discuss with their parents the detail about their lives than teenagers were in generations past. Maybe parents think there is sometimes a little bit too much information but it is so important to make time to do this. The setting for such a discussion is preferably not too formal, better to do this while for example driving along in a car where there are other things going on.
What about the best way to introduce alcoholic drinks? Madonna has clear advice on this personal decision. And the interviewees place importance on the role of mentors, in particular, aunties and cousins.
The meticulous research is going to be enormously valuable as we chart these uncertain times where we are all L Platers. But this new book is not an academic treatise. Madonna has two teenage daughters of her own so we know it is practical advice above everything else.
And speaking with Madonna is always entertaining as well as informative.
Madonna King
Madonna King is one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists having won awards for her ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings current affairs program and writing across Nine, Crikey and The New Daily. Madonna is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Being 14 (ABIA shortlisted for non-fiction book of the year), and Fathers and Daughters which we discussed in a previous show. In 2018 Madonna served as chair of the Queensland Government’s Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce set up in the wake of COAG. A fellow of the prestigious World Press Institute Madonna previously served as a visiting fellow at the Queensland University of Technology and on the Walkley Advisory Board. Madonna lives in Brisbane with her husband and two teenage daughters.
Song selection by our guest: Ring Ring by ABBA