If you’ve ever tried talking to a teenage boy about dating, relationships or sex, you’ll know that attempting to broach anything meaningful or – worse – offering advice is the biggest cringe ever. It feels like banging on a firmly closed door. At least it did for me.
Until, that is, I found the most surprising and brilliant antidote to teenaged monosyllabism.
The TV show, Below Deck, if you do not know it, follows an international crew of young and impossibly gorgeous deckhands and stewardesses working on luxury superyachts, catering to the demanding whims of wealthy charter guests. It would be easy to dismiss it as a silly bit of reality TV fluff. But it has unlocked the richest seam of the most engaged and thought-provoking conversations that any parent would hope to have with a young person who will soon be venturing out into the world on their own. Over the past few months, we have had in-depth conversations about consent, love-bombing and coercive control, as well as toxic masculinity, hook-up regrets, how to bow out of a relationship gracefully rather than being a dick, as well as how to avoid being “friend-zoned”.
My son and I started watching the show together a year ago as a guilty pleasure and for some light relief as his GCSE preparation ramped up; a bit of silly fun.
