Are they excited, engaged and energised? Or bored, disillusioned and understimulated? Mollycoddled and overly protected, or stressed and overly pressured? Teenagers in the UAE have so many labels and stereotypes attached to them, it’s a wonder they don’t baulk under all the criticism.
Community living is particularly popular in the UAE, and it is standard for every community to have at least one Facebook group that encourages residents to communicate with one another. These online platforms cover everything from the sale of a plant pot to questions – and answers – about the best place to go for a shawarma. And often, somewhere between all those inquisitive threads, you'll find long rants about the behaviour of teenagers.
“I have just encountered five rude and ignorant young male teenagers in Mira shopping centre,” writes one resident of the Mira Townhouses Community in Dubai. “Absolutely astounded at their lack of respect having been asked by security to leave. Their response was there is nowhere else to go.”
"A group of loud teenagers have been hanging out at the food court downstairs and leaving their trash everywhere and creating a loud, hostile atmosphere. Where are their parents, I'd like to know," writes a resident on a Facebook page for inhabitants of Sun and Sky Towers on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi. "When my son is a teenager, if I ever catch him doing this, he'll be lucky to see the light of day again," writes a father who lives in Dubai's Greens community.
And with every post, dozens of comments by others follow, lambasting the behaviour of teenagers, in general. The majority seems to believe that young people here think they can get away with anything and are out of control. Not all parents, however, would agree. “I’ve noticed that on our community’s Facebook page, people can be really critical of teenagers,” says Janelle Laurent, a Canadian mother of two who lives in Dubai. “There’s so much negativity towards them, always assuming the worst of them.”
This type of attitude spreading across social media, says Laurent, can be harmful for teens; it makes them feel like everyone is against them, and that they're almost expected to misbehave. Janelle and her husband, Claudius, have begun taking what they read on these Facebook groups and turning it into "talking points" at home with their own teenager, 15-year-old Sierrah.
“We can’t say all teenagers have a problem. The community is saying all teenagers out there are doing mischief, but I know that’s not the case. We use the issues that neighbours bring up [such as teenagers staying out until the early hours of the morning, or disrespecting an adult or security guard, or littering] to discuss things at home, and to be clear on what we expect from Sierrah,” explains Laurent.
The idea that it takes a village to raise a child applies to older children and teenagers, and not only to little ones, maintains one mother of three boys who lives in the Mira community in Dubai. It is based on that adage that she set up a group on WhatsApp for parents to join, as a sort of neighbourhood teen-watch. It is almost like having 45 sets of eyes out there watching out for her child, she says, rather than just her own.
"Some people had threatened to go to the police to complain about the behaviour of teenagers in our community, and that's taking things really far," says the mother, who is from the UK, and wished to remain anonymous. "So I felt I needed to do something."
If kids are up to no good, parents can stop them or steer them in the right direction, if they only know what is going on. “I would really hope that the community would support me in trying to raise my child in the correct way, not call the police, because my almost-13-year-old made a stupid mistake – because he is sometimes capable of making some pretty stupid errors of judgement, like most teenagers.”
The teen-watch group shares information on where their kids are, and with whom, making it difficult for teenagers to get away with lying to their parents. In the few months since it’s been set up, the group has been able to get the right culprits to clean up litter in the park, stop some teens from throwing stones at security guards and caution a group of boys from riding their bikes on the street in the fog, without their helmets on.
What parents need to remember, says Ann Kuis, a counsellor at Lifeworks Dubai who is raising a 14-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter, is that teenagers can get themselves into trouble no matter where they are, and that expat parents cannot assume that just because they are in the UAE, adolescents will not face the same issues and temptations that they might face back in their home countries.
“Parents give their teens more freedom here, as they don’t have to worry about things like gangs with knives, or teens being mugged and attacked so that their phones or money are stolen,” says Kuis. “It’s not as likely here, but it doesn’t mean you should let your guard down as a parent.”
Laurent and her husband agree. "Some parents we've spoken to seem to think it's so secure here that they can allow kids more freedom, but kids can get into problems anywhere in the world; kids are born to break the rules," says Claudius, an airline pilot with Fly Dubai.
Chris Panning from the UK disagrees that teens in the UAE have more freedom than they do back in their home countries. “If I wanted to see vandalism and yobbish behaviour with foul language, I would have stayed in Britain,” says Panning, a civil engineer. “I don’t want to see that here from teens, and I don’t expect to, so when I do, the immediate reaction is to make sure those teenagers pay and learn a lesson.”
Admittedly, Panning is a father of an 11-year-old, so he has yet to navigate the adolescent years. He insists, however, that his son will be kept on a tight leash as a teenager. “This is a country with people from all over the world, from different cultures, each of them raising their children with different principles and rules,” he says. “The advantage is having your children meet kids from all over the world. The disadvantage, is that what goes in your home might not work in someone else’s, and teens get mixed messages. It can’t be easy for them, nor their parents.”
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Read more:
The growing problem of negative body image in the UAE
Why stressed-out teens are turning to yoga to maintain their mental and physical health
‘The silent epidemic’: experts warn that troubled teens are not getting help they need
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Sierrah has found a way to remove herself from the temptation of misbehaviour. She plays a number of sports, practises the piano and paints. She babysits to make some money and even tries to sell her paintings. "It's a fun experience growing up as a teen here," she says, having also lived in Canada, St Lucia and India. "There are so many activities to take part in and so much to do, but I feel that teens my age are not interested in that.
"They are interested in partying, popularity contests and who their friends are – they just want to have fun and be free and not think of the future. It's easy to fall into that trap, and I have to make a conscious effort not to." What helps the most, says Sierrah, is knowing that her parents give her the benefit of the doubt, and show her that they're on her side.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
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Essentials
The flights
Etihad (etihad.ae) and flydubai (flydubai.com) fly direct to Baku three times a week from Dh1,250 return, including taxes.
The stay
A seven-night “Fundamental Detox” programme at the Chenot Palace (chenotpalace.com/en) costs from €3,000 (Dh13,197) per person, including taxes, accommodation, 3 medical consultations, 2 nutritional consultations, a detox diet, a body composition analysis, a bio-energetic check-up, four Chenot bio-energetic treatments, six Chenot energetic massages, six hydro-aromatherapy treatments, six phyto-mud treatments, six hydro-jet treatments and access to the gym, indoor pool, sauna and steam room. Additional tests and treatments cost extra.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
Jurassic%20Park
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Company profile
Name: The Concept
Founders: Yadhushan Mahendran, Maria Sobh and Muhammad Rijal
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 7
Sector: Aviation and space industry
Funding: $250,000
Future plans: Looking to raise $1 million investment to boost expansion and develop new products
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Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
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%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3EThe%20loss%20of%20sodium%20chloride%20in%20our%20sweat%20can%20lead%20to%20confusion%20and%20an%20altered%20mental%20status%20and%20slurred%20speech%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EBody%20temperature%20above%2039%C2%B0C%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EHot%2C%20dry%20and%20red%20or%20damp%20skin%20can%20indicate%20heatstroke%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EA%20faster%20pulse%20than%20usual%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EDizziness%2C%20nausea%20and%20headaches%20are%20also%20signs%20of%20overheating%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EIn%20extreme%20cases%2C%20victims%20can%20lose%20consciousness%20and%20require%20immediate%20medical%20attention%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
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