Teenagers are Cute

Bear with me – I know this sounds really schmaltzy and that isn’t usually my style. However, it suddenly struck me how cute teenagers can be and how this is a word so rarely used to describe them, except in a sleazy sexual context. We don’t think anything of attributing the word ‘cute’ to a photo of a baby, or to something sweet that a toddler does, but not to describe the teens. 

Obviously there are various reasons for this: 

1. No teenager on this planet wants to be called ‘cute’.
2. They are quite often not cute: they are selfish and rude and oblivious to others and so we tend to forget the cute bits.

So, in an attempt to readdress the balance, here are some genuinely cute things that teenagers do (and by ‘cute’ I don’t mean all the kind and helpful things that teenagers are, occasionally, capable of):

Teenage boys actually ‘do’ their hair. They actually get up in the morning and style it. This is cute.

Teenage girls buy cheap dress after cheap jumper after cheap shorts on ASOS. They wear them on holiday with you and you spend the whole holiday thinking how cheap their clothes look, but they have bought them themselves and this is cute.

When they babysit for other people’s kids, they genuinely care about the children they are looking after. They read them bedtime stories and tell you about it when they get in at midnight. This is cute. 

They still want Father Christmas to visit. This is cute – but obviously the motive behind their cuteness is getting more presents. 

They still like having sleepovers with their sisters. This is cute – especially when they top and tail. 

They plait each other’s hair. Cute. 

They will look out for each other and give reassuring hugs. This is cute, especially when siblings do it, because you then know that, deep down, they actually do love each other. 

Their awkwardness in social situations is cute. 

They love spending time with their grandparents, especially shopping. This is cute because it simply melts the generation gap and has huge benefits for both. 

Their relationship with their pets is cute – their genuine love for them (which doesn’t mean they will poo pick in the garden, because they don’t find that part of having dogs cute).

There are many, many more examples of teenage cuteness: please add 😃