Parenting Teens Top Tips Announcement + Vintage Reading Festival Advice

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hello and welcome to Teenagers Untangle, the audio hug for parents going through the tween and teen years. I'm Rachel Richards, former BBC correspondent, CNBC Europe World News Anchor, and mum to two teens and two bonus daughters. I've been making this podcast for parents of tweens and teens for over four years now. It's won multiple awards, it's in the top 2% of podcasts in the world, which is fantastic, but I really want to take a break to spend summer with my family, and I didn't want to leave you with no support. So I thought, hmm, how can I best help parents of tweens and teens who are moving up to senior school or maybe just going back for a new year and trying to think what should I focus on? I remember feeling really apprehensive at that stage because it's so hard to know what's important. So I thought, why don't I give you some of the top tips from the nearly 200 episodes, one day at a time, so you can build up your understanding in a manageable way and feel much more prepared for when school starts again. So each week the episode will have seven tips. It's going to be really short, and I suggest you listen to one, but then pause give it a day to really think about and implement it before continuing. Or you could listen to them all and then pick the one that feels most important for you at that point. There are no rules. You're the expert on your own kids and family. But make sure you're following the show to ensure you don't miss any. And if you want to get them early and have the tips delivered weekly directly to you, just sign up for my Substack mailing list, the links in the notes, and you'll get them straight to your mailbox. The tips start next week. In the meantime, here's a rerun of the Reading Festival episode because I have had so much amazing feedback on it and it's the perfect time to listen. It's the end of summer in the UK and my two teenagers are getting ready to go back to school. But fresh in their minds is the Reading Music Festival. It's become the big get-together in the UK for kids who finish their GCSEs. So we're talking about 16-year-olds. If you were to read about these festivals in the tabloid newspapers, you'd believe it's basically a field full of kids taking drugs, drinking all weekend, and burning down tents. But is that true? And what advice can we give to parents whose kids are begging to go? Luckily enough, my girls have agreed to talk through what to expect, how to make the most of the festival, and what parents should consider before sending their teens. My girls are just giggling in the background. So, so Phoebe, hello. Hi. That's Phoebe's voice, Mia. Hi. Hi, that's that's Phoebe and Mia. Thank you for coming in. Let's hope we can make this a useful episode. Right, before you go, let's have a think about uh what we talked about before you girls go. Um I said no drugs a lot, didn't I? Yeah. Um it's an obvious one. Um what else? What like reading the info on the website? How did you prepare?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Um, I mean, like I obviously went a couple of years ago for the full weekend, and then this year I only went for one day. So well, because like I feel like the camping is an experience you have to, you have to it's kind of a rite of passage. And the nights are the best. But it's a it's more of a one-time thing. Um so this year round is more for just the music and the vibes.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Ah, nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

And why are the why are the nights the best? Um, they're the most fun. You kind of just sit around in the day, and then music normally starts at 12, but if you don't know the people who start at 12, which is like normally that's what normally happens, you don't really know.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Yeah, because they're the small acts, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

But it's fun because you can still discover people. Yeah, before.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah. So I mean I looked at it and I one of the parents, I I I I m both my girls went in groups. They went in groups. They tend to be sort of encampments of kids from the same school. So they there's sort of safety in numbers. And um one of the mums of the group that went said, Why on earth did they go on a Wednesday when the music doesn't start until um I went I booked Early Bird, we went on the Wednesday, and it is so worth it.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Uh why? I think because the first day on the Wednesday, also the gates at Reading, they say that they open at six, they don't, they open so much earlier. Yeah, you were in. I was I was surprised. You don't get there at six. If you get there at six, they're gonna you're gonna have as much camping spaces as you will the next day. So there's no point. Ah, okay. So yeah, you get to like kind of get to know the area, you get to like look around, and the night that is the best night. Um why? Because you have you have nothing to do the next day.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Um that would have affected me.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Like no one no one behaved thinking, oh, I have to get up the next day, like throughout the entire experience.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

And um, yeah, and everyone's kind of just walking around in the night, so you that's a night where you can meet people, that's the night yeah, it's it's the most fun that night, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

So for parents who are anxious, because there are a lot of parents who are scared about allowing their kids to go to festivals, go out, or whatever. Um, what I think is really interesting about it. So so the thing I said to the mother was, look, how many times do our kids get to be in a massive field with a load of people their age, unsupervised, so they can just go and meet freely.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

I'm sure there are ups and downs of that. Did you did you feel like most people were your age or were they similar?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Actually, I had we had a couple of 19-year-olds next to us, standing next to us.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

19-year-olds, how dare they?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

No, but um, they were complaining so much about the fact that literally everyone had just come out of GCSEs. That's the thing, yeah. Everyone's in the same age bracket.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yes. Probably about like yeah, from 16 to 20, most people, I would say. Yeah. I mean, it it's nice because you do get mixtures of people, so obviously, like there are older people coming. Um, but I would say like the vibe is very young. Like you've got a lot of yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Interesting. And it's interesting because I saw people coming to the festival who looked older, but I think they their sort of day day trip is coming in and out, but yeah, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I think exactly most people go for day trips if they're like the campers are usually really young.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

And I think the festival split up, so I think Reading is quite a young festival. There's boardmasters in the UK, which is a bit older. Am I talking about it?

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Well, there's Reading and Leeds, it's the Reading in Leeds. Yes, the Reading and Leeds.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

There were a group of people from Iowa and Boardmasters and they loved they loved some of it.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

The the thing about boardmasters is that it depends on it depends on the year group, it depends on who you're with. Yeah. Um, but also like circumstances. So because you're by the beach, like it's a different vibe.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Also, I think there's um everybody thinks that boardmasters is a lot safer than Reading when I want to disagree with that because I like a lot of people at Boardmasters and ended up getting spiked.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Really?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah, there was a crush this year. Yeah, yes. That was a huge crash. And in Reading, they are so safe. I mean, we had I had there were a couple of people who collapsed during one of um like Ray, she's this um singer, one of her music performances. Yeah. And everyone in the crowd was so lovely. Everyone was like shouting and they were like, Oh yeah, hell up, hell up, and yeah, there were staff all over the place trying like acting trying to access people and there's nothing to worry about in that.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

I think that's a really good uh point to raise, and actually a friend of mine's son collapsed. And we instantly said, Oh my goodness, was did he take drugs? And she said, No, he's never had a fit. They he went and she said it was incredible because his twin brother was there and they surrounded him to protect him. Yeah, they formed a funnel out. Straight away he was taken to a medical tent where by the time she got there, he was with a GP and couldn't be released because they were doing all the tests. They said there were no drugs in his system, so she said it would have been better in a way, because at least they would have been able to identify why. But she thought maybe he just hadn't been sleeping, he hadn't been drinking enough water. Yeah, but but the the response was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, it's it's really safe. I mean, I don't I can't speak for Bullmasters because I haven't been, but from Reading, it's like the what uh from what I've seen, it's so safe. Yeah. And I had a couple of friends who who, you know, like collapsed and who like did not feel well at all. And they went to the medical centre and they got treated instantly.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

There there's a there's a calm meditation tent.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Is it is there anyone in it?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

No. Funny enough, no. But that's good to hear. That's good to hear that they have a space where you can go away and like they they've thought everything through. Like they've done that.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

And you don't hear this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

No, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

So let's talk about cost because the actual tickets are not cheap.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

No, they're not.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Just before we go on, the the f the getting in there early was also good because you got those silent disco headphones.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah. That's very true. Yes. I did not have Yeah. Um I didn't have the early bird tickets, and so I couldn't buy them on site. I didn't buy the and by the time I got there, they were all completely sold out, even online.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Um so obviously.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

I might and your dad laughed and said, Why on earth would you want to go to a silent disco? But apparently it's so much fun. It is so much fun.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

In my opinion, it's I I went pretty much every single night. It's most fun on the first night. Is that right? Yeah, because there hasn't everybody been like waiting on the first night as in on the Wednesday night. Oh wait, is Wednesday night or Thursday night? Yeah, Wednesday night. Yeah, no, as in the silent disc was open. Because it's like one of the first acts, so everyone's really excited for it. Everybody's been like building it up in their heads, and it's it's a lot of fun. But the the first DJ this year was absolutely awful.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Look after your headphones as well. People they people steal them. I ended up with two pairs somehow and neither of them were mine because I didn't even I didn't buy any.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

So what did you do with them?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I went. Don't don't people deposit them. Oh yeah, but but no, so sorry to interrupt, but you you hand them back in, but the the um each one. Oh, they're traceable to the person. Okay, okay. Because I was worried that that person was like, Yeah, no, because there were some people going around like they thought that they could just collect other people's deposits, so they picked up like four different headphones. But you can do that. You can't no, you don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Right, you can do that with um charges. So no. Also, oh my god, it is such a scam for anybody going to Reading in the next years. Do not, and I repeat, do not buy a charger that is 25 quid from one of the charging places. If you go to the Android store, it's really good advertising for them, but you go to the Android store.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Where's the Android store?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

You walk around the festival, it's got a massive Android figure on the top of it, you can't miss it. So anyway, they charge your phones for free.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

No, yeah, they charge them for free. So £25 versus going to the Android store, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Having your phone run out at a festival. Yes. Like obviously running, I felt so safe the entire time. And I I only survived on one power pack and that lasted me. It just depends on you know, it's about being efficient. Yeah. But um, like running out of charge at a festival is a really, really good idea. Yeah, it's terrifying as well. You were you were running out all the time. Yeah, I ran out of literally. Yeah, because you like you have to you have to coordinate so much with other people and make sure that you're you know really good points. Yeah, and also like paying for things as well. I think everything's um, you know, there's no cash. Yeah, there is oh, so you really need your phone.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

You need you need at least a credit card, but and I had said before you go, it's really important to always be with somebody because you don't you don't it you're vulnerable otherwise. And we bought bum bags for you girls. What did you think of that? Oh, that is so good. They're good.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

You have to keep yeah, don't leave any valuables in the tank. Don't bring any valuables for the bag.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

For Americans, that's a fanny pack, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Don't wear them as a bum bag though, that just looks really bad. So, how do you wear them? You wear them around your shoulder. Yeah, because that looks so bad having them around your bum.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yeah, of course. Of course. So you keep in that you keep your phone, um, you know, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Cash, cash. Well not even like credit, yeah, anyway. Charger. Charger, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Because we found that there was theft. There's so much theft. Yes, people don't take anything you care about.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Like some people will just see your ever any tent is fair game. Yeah and they'll just like people just wander into other people's tents.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Also, I really think it depends on where you're camping. Yeah. So where I was camping, I was camping at the back of purple, which is this massive field, and everybody was avoiding that um campsite because everybody thought it was the rowdy one. So everybody ended up avoiding it. Was it the rowdy one? Uh no.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

No, because everyone avoided it. Okay, interesting. Yeah. So um So you were pretty s but I think somebody in your group had their chair stolen the first day. Quite why you took that. Yeah, so the thing is though, no, we chairs.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

No, take chairs, take chairs. They are so useful just in the night time, put them in your tents. But yeah, it's because she left she left her chair outside.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Out in the night time. But um Shame. But yeah, I feel like uh you I mean you touched upon something, an important point, which is like campsite, like area. Um because obviously you want to make sure that you're with obviously your group that you're going with. Yeah, for sure. Like it it can make or break the whole the entire experience.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Um what are the no-go like don't camp here? Do we know?

SPEAKER_00 13:23

The th the problem is is that no no, but the problem is that the the colours change every year. Like the application.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

But I mean, are they are they is should you be as far away from the main stages or especially like late at night, like you don't want to be tracked.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

No, of course.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

So it's quite the distances are large.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Where my campsite was, um, I thought the distance was actually perfect because everyone in a good place. Yeah, we were at the back, it was it was this massive field, it went it stretched from like the campsite to the back. But yeah, we were on the back, like on a path, so it was so easy to get from where we were to the actual festival. Um, but nobody went back there unless like well there were a few people, but it was like the perfect amount. But it was so easy to get through the actual festival.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Because there's a lot of walking.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

I mean you grabbed up 20, 30, 40,000 steps. We looked at your steps and you girls had really been. I mean, I I only went for one day, so I hadn't even been there for the entire time, but I did at least like 25,000 steps.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

I did 42,000 in one day.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Well, it's good, get fit, yeah, get fit. Um, costs. So, you know, planning planning ahead for costs, what do we Okay?

SPEAKER_00 14:27

So, firstly, I have something to say. So, um I bought my ticket, I think, at full price. I don't know. Um and mine was only a day ticket, so obviously like early bird and weekend tickets are gonna be a lot a lot more. But wait as long as you can. Oh, I would say not for if you're if you're buying a weekend ticket, obviously, like you want to buy it in the days. So you're you're you know, you're gonna want to jump on that. But if you're if you're going through day, um it it depends on the day as well. But you can end up with packages, like my girlfriend and I, we like bought our tickets relatively early, and then if we had waited, we could have got two for like 80 quid. So that's a ticket. Wow. Yeah, I mean it's dependent on the day that you go, but yeah, it's really you know, you need to be you need to be yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Good tip. So if it's a one-day thing, it can be it can be really worthwhile waiting.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

The ticket doesn't even begin to cover the cost. It it when you actually get to the festival, it is extortionate the amount of money you're gonna be spending.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Yes. But you were great because you both took food. Yeah, that's a stuff. Because you've done Duke of Edinburgh. Yeah. Oh my god. Genuinely. Yeah. Any top tips in terms of the types of food to take or things that's noodles.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah, a well, pot noodles. I mean, they I didn't like my friends and I didn't do this, but they brought um one of these little like stove things. Camping streets. We brought a drinking street.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I recommend that, but also something I did not figure out until the last day was that they have these little stations where you can actually get hot water from.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Really?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah, hot water, hot drinking water. And every in every campsite they have a station where you can get Lou Roll. They they were giving out free waterproof phone cases. That's cool. You can get hot water. You can it's actually, yeah. It's really magical.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Top tip.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

You've give out so many th free things in the festival.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Yeah, I would say dry, definitely dry foods. Nothing like chocolate will melt if it's warm weather, like that. I mean, obviously, like you can bring you can bring it, like um, but I would say kind of stock up on like you know, bars, things like that. Nuts, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

I mean sustenance. You can walk into town as well. I mean it is what but it's just tiring because you're tired and then you've got quite a lot of walking to do to get back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Uh about drinks. Yes. Um, it's so much easier. I would recommend buying them before you actually go into the festival. Like, don't buy little cans of stuff, buy bottles because you're gonna get through them really quickly. Yeah. And when you get into the actual festival, they only sell like beer.

unknown 16:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

And that's not gonna That's not true. No, yeah. The co-op only sold beer. Yeah, well the co-op only sells beer, but they have stands. Like, yeah, no, but at the stands it was like crazy. Yeah, it's very insanely expensive. Everything's expensive. That's why you need to bring lots of your own food. At the co-op, I really recommend going. Also, sign up to become a co-op member because you get a pound off your first um your first power. Also, also, I we bought this giant bottle of Sprite for £2.99 when one of those like tiny, tiny ones costs three pounds at the smart.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

The co-op is genuinely a highlight. Like we went for the co-op this year.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

But they had they the co-op do that really well because they've had that at the Isle of Wight festival. Do you remember that when you're going in, they have a whole section with a co-op. They they do a really good job.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

I mean, when we went, there was a saxophonist who was playing.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

But that's the thing, they're really good, they entertain. They're doing a good job. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

They've got like music, yeah, it's so nice.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Um Anna, you mentioned uh chocolate melting, it can go either way, right? We're in England. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure in other countries it's gonna differ, but um you were Emilia, you were here my when we were at Reading, it started pretty pretty shocking storm, actually.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

My tent leaked, yes, and it was brand new. Yeah, and so much of my stuff got wet. Okay, one thing I would say, which literally saved the trip because without it I would have wanted to go home, is so my mum got a hotel right next to the festival, um, which was so good because we went and had I brought all my friends and we went and had a shower back at her hotel. And that saved it because we felt so grimy after all that rain.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Yeah, it was only just it was a couple of nights and it was towards the end of the festival. Yeah. It's very exp it's expensive. Yeah, I was gonna say it's and I did that for all the yes, so you can actually group together. So if you all pay in, if all the parents chip in and you have one parent staying there, it means someone and I did that this time. I've told you you're on your own in future, but it was just so that you had because I did the same for you, didn't I, Phoebe?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

For someone's first festival, it's better to have somebody just in case something goes wrong. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

But do you have any like because obviously like a lot of people won't be able to do that?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Do you have any advice for people um well it were breaking storms? You can shower there for 55 quid.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Actually, actually, my friend's son, so he walked into town and there was a gym there and he'd get a shower. I think it's still seven pounds. It's a lot of money. Seven pounds? Seven pounds. Yeah, but my point is it's cheaper than a drink. It's cheaper than exactly. So there is that, and there are wet white weapons. But also, I think when it comes to the you know, it was particularly bad. I mean, we saw some pictures, some video of the Leeds, which is the sister festival.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

You have to you have to consider all scenarios, you have to bring waterproofs, like both warm clothing and fair weather.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Because that happened in our campsite, we were sitting down because my friend was really smart and she brought a bunch of chairs, which everyone sat down. She also brought a table, which was instantly, it was a camping table, and that was so like smart. Great. But um, and we made like a little circle so that we could be sitting, yeah. And just suddenly a tent flew past us. Yeah, do you actually set up? Did you did you see that? Make sure you have your guy ropes in and um pegs. People steal pegs, yeah. Yeah, like um our friend her tent's pegs got stolen. What?

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Oh goodness me. Um yes, and also you know, it's a sunscreen, but also uh a a big bin bag that you can line your your stuff so you can put all your stuff in it so if it does start, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

There were people wearing, there are people wearing that.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

But you did it, you took a bin bag the first year you went in order to also a spare one to clear up. Yeah. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

It was an absolute state. Even by by the second day, because also the group I was in quite a big group, so obviously I had my friends in the tent, but I went with basically everyone from my school, and we were all in the same area, and not everyone has the same values about you know cleanliness and and the environment, things like that. So by the second, like I would watch people literally like eat out of uh, you know, a casting of grapes, for example, and just like drop them on the drop it on the floor when they were done. Um, and they would treat it like they've been a bag. So literally by the second day, like it was an utter big style. Yeah, it was so awful. And there was there was like pillow fluff everywhere, like yeah, people don't really have any respect. So it's nice to just bring at least like keep your area clean. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Actually, something which they were doing, which I thought was really smart. I don't know they did this last year, but so they were handing round bin bags. Oh really?

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Because they're all lazy, everyone's lazy, right? And they just need to give them a a way to clear up.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

And then they had them like the full ones on this wall for recycling bags, and you could tie it to like the great. So it was exchange. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

And were people using them?

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Um, no. But I would say I would say like um Mess is expected. Like every single festival you go to, there's going to be like a huge amount of rubbish. But I say on the whole, Reading itself was actually really clean. Yeah. Like from what I can remember, the I don't think it depends on what camp you're in again, obviously, but like the camp that I was in the toilets was so clean. I genuinely like even by the last night, when usually I've heard from other festivals, sometimes they're like overflowing with just like disgusting things. But um when I went, like they were absolutely fine.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Yeah, yeah. And and actually when we've been to the Isle of Wight festival, I've been really I really noticed that it's not that messy. And we've gone around and picked up our own stuff and other people's while we've been doing that. But generally, people it depends on the group. I think it really does depend. And I think so. One of the things about the tents is I would never allow my kids to come home without their tents. So I picked up the tents on the last day, didn't I, earlier in the day, so that you then didn't have to worry about it later in the day.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

At the end of Lim Gallaga, which was at 11:30, we saw people walking to try and find their parents in like the places where they were parked, and they had all their stuff with them and they looked dead. Well, we were writing at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

I had a bit of a nightmare though, because I didn't give you all my staff. Do you remember? So we gave you the tent and like my main bag, but there was still stuff that was like I don't know why I didn't give you my stuff.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Um and so yeah, that was a bit of a nightmare trying to But Amelia had a better deal this year because I found a wheelie bag, it's just an old one that was in a shed, and I gave her the tent in that, and it meant that she could put a c lot of stuff in that so she wasn't carrying things. No, it ripped. It ripped, yeah. It was old.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

I mean it wasn't a new thing, so but on the whole, like I I mean I got this from other people and Amelia did it as well, but you don't really want to spare it depends on who you are, but you the like gen like the normal advice is not to spend the night um on Sunday night or the last night.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

That's when it all kicks off, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Because yeah, people have nothing left to really stay for. Um so they're all just yeah. Like there was I remember when I left there was a shopping trolley, there was a cocoa shopping trolley in one of the bushes. On one of the bushes, and people are like hurling bottles around and pissing in cans and throwing them. Right. And that's that's even like that was as we were leaving, it got worse and worse throughout the night. Right. So you want to get your stuff out and then enjoy the evening so that you can just go home, like have a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

I mean that's ideal, but yeah, I mean I'm sure lots of people don't, but I think that's that was ideal.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

That's yeah, you know, I know so many people who left halfway through the festival. I know quite a few people who left before the music even started.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Like it's really the thing is festivals you either really like them or you really don't. Like they're either your thing or they're not. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

You had a friend who had just had enough, wanted to go home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And actually talking about taking you home, the year, so last year when I collected you, Phoebe, that was really tough because stupidly I I parked in the car park that they told me to park in, and then it got late and I started driving towards the site. And they end up you end up in this one-way system. You can't stop. You were told. I was screaming at you and saying, ah, run, run, run. And this year I did it so much better. I didn't go to the car park, they didn't cater. What I did was I went across the river to an area where nobody really goes and parked in a filling station, just let everybody know where we were. It that was so much better. We got home way quicker than other people who were fighting their way through traffic. We just went back routes. Yeah. So that was really smart.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Yeah. That's a good idea. But definitely, like if you're going with a group of friends, coordinate with other people, go to the car. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

No, exactly. We all our cars were stuffed. Or there were trains. The trains run really late. So that's really useful. True. Um and you and you and actually you get really tired though, don't you? Yeah. What do you what do you I mean, how do you pace yourself? Because you said that the fun stuff happens at night, but that means you're not getting enough sleep.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

So yeah, no, sleep through the day.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Um what when the music is on.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

No, the the music starts at twelve, and you normally don't know the person playing at twelve. Okay. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

So an eye mask or something. Because obviously when you're in a tent if.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Actually, one thing one thing I would say is, oh, I brought noise cancelling headphones, they were so good. But um yeah, they didn't get stolen in the park. You sound like such a princess. But one thing I would say, so um, we know a couple of people who went and decided to camp on the other end of the festival and they were completely out. They hadn't a couple of people in that campsite were so angry because they had no atmosphere. It was a half an hour walk to the atmosphere. That's the thing you want to be in the street. They hated it there. Yes. But then it's the main thing. There were some people who were really happy that they were that they were that far away because they really hated it. Uh they really actually wanted a good night's sleep. But um, yeah, I would say just go for like in the middle. If you're gonna go into a campsite that's like close to the festival, go to the back of that campsite.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Um, what about things like drugs and alcohol? Um what do I mean? So so I'm gonna put it into context. I was talking to another mother and she said to me that her son's tent was raided. Yeah. And I said, gosh, that must have been a shock. And she said, Well, yes, because there were drug dealers in the tent next to his and they wanted to check his tent, and of course he he came up clean.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Um, but would did you see much evidence of drugs?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Well, so here's the thing. Yeah. So I showed up late because I didn't have the early bird tickets, but the rest of my friends did. So they were all in, you know, and I turned up alone. And um, there's they do drug checks. Well, no, they didn't do drug checks, they do like bad checks and everything. They have sniffer dogs. Um, and here's a piece of advice don't pet the sniffer dogs. Um, because I'm quite a fan of dogs, and the dog took a liking to me. And so I ended up in the drug queue. I'm like the least liking person. And I was there surrounded by long queue, yeah. Yeah, oh my god, I was there for three hours. I mean, it it basically it took up my entire first day. I was in such a bad mood. Um, but but the thing is the bag checks are so unthorough, it's not funny. Like they they didn't even go through my bag, they they didn't find my alcohol and it was a drug check.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

So wait, so you had you had a small bottle, a miniature. So Phoebe's really, really honest. And then you had a miniature in your sock and you were really panicking, and then you had a whole bottle.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

I had I had I no, I had a whole bottle of vodka. I had two bottles, I had a whole bottle of vodka, and then I had the alcohol meal for her grid. And then I had another bottle in a water bottle. Yeah. And they were both at the bottom of my bag. Yeah. And so I thought the odds were they wouldn't actually check down there, which I was right, they didn't check. But when they asked me for alcohol, I thought I would give them something to kind of throw them off and make it seem like I was really honest, so I just gave them the miniature and they let me through. Um, but yeah, but that literally within about five minutes, that's not even an exaggeration, of walking to try to get to my tent. And I literally had just shown up, I was approached by two different people just asking whether I wanted ketamine. Like there are drugs everywhere. That's just going to be that's like a fact of festivals. You're gonna it's not just reading, like it it's an airy festival. So you've just got to you know keep your wits about you and not accept anything from anyone because yeah, that's like the Well, if you are going to accept something, accept it from like a trusted source.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Like who? Who can you trust at a festival? I mean, you don't. Festivals, no, festival don't even trust your friends, where would your friends have? Your 16-year-old friends. No, no, no, I'm not talking from me, I'm talking just in general.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

If you are no see, I don't think you can trust anybody. Don't don't try to do it. I just don't think you can trust anyone.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Don't do drugs in general, but but but but even then don't do them at festivals. Like that is the worst, worst place. Because uh of all the things that could go wrong, like you don't want something to go wrong at festivals, and and people get spiked, like spiking is such a such a problem. Um, and so same with alcohol, like you want to make sure that you're getting alcohol from yourself or your friends, you want to bring it with you. Yeah, um, and then if you ever do get drinks, or I mean it's the usual, you just need to like make sure that you know and that your friends know um that you need to keep your cups covered, you know, nothing or not even in cups, you want to keep them in cans, things like that. Yeah, and then you know but people can you know it can get spiked from injections and things in the crowd.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

There's um there are some really useful like cup covers you can get off Amazon to come together, but um yeah, I would say like you're like somebody you're if you're going to a festival, you're probably gonna be drinking.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Well definitely gonna be drinking, and it's better for your parent or someone you know or yourself to buy the alcohol, um because then you're a lot less likely because I mean your the child is gonna be going somewhere to get it anyway, so it's better for them to get it from someone they know or or from like you or whatever um other than so for all the parents at home listening to this who are horrified that my children drink alcohol, we're not we're not really a a a drinking family in that way, but I my attitude is pick your fights, and I think when you're going to a festival, um they're going to drink it's better to yes, absolutely. Um and did you see people well, you've just done a job last night where there were young people staggering around blind drunk, it's not attractive at all, is it? No, it's not. Um and and you know, so what did you see much of that at the festival? People that drunk? Oh yeah. Yeah. Um because I just don't think you're safe.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

If you get like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

You have to be You want to make sure it depends. We did it in nights. So we had we had two bottles, and so we would we did it one between three because there were six of us.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Um, and so there would be three people drinking the first night, and then three people didn't drink as well, so that they could look after the three people if something had gone wrong. See, this is smart.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

This is this is the the answer, it's the way that you do it, it's not what should you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Yeah, you just want to make sure that you're like it's essential to stay with your people the entire time.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Um and just make sure that you're with a safe, trusted group of friends.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

How easy was it to get water? Because that was one of the things we talked about before was making sure you always drink water. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

So the thing is, it depends on where you're situated, because it's it can be a trek to get to the water stations because they're like in between the camps and the festival. Um but yeah, it's really easy to get it once you're there, you just have to water it.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

And do you have to have your own bottle to have they have ref like they have like refill stations? Great. Um, but but also I remember like we last year, um, Billie Eilish was the last act, and obviously there was a massive crowd there. Yeah, there was such a dense crowd there, and it got really hot, and obviously it was also the end of the night. So if you hadn't been drinking water, then like you're gonna get so thirsty and dehydrated. And my girlfriend like was in quite a bad state because she hadn't been drinking water. Um, and it was at the very front of the like stage, there was a guy behind the barrier, he was literally just like giving out three cups of water. So we went and found him, and then he was just giving us three.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

So fantastic. Yeah, they did that, they did that this year as well. So we were standing, we were standing up for like four hours. My friend, my other friends were standing up for longer than that because they'd been wanting to see the people before, but everyone we wanted to see was on the main stage, so we got a really good position and just stayed there.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Um, but yeah, the people at the front, you would just need to put your hand up, and then everyone would be passing about to you. Everyone there's so lovely. Yeah, you get taken care of, it's really good.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

I really like that. Yeah, um, why did you only go for one day this year?

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Um, well, though in truth, there was only one like act. Well, actually, no, that's not true. There were so many acts I would have loved to see. But um I I was kind of done with the camping. Yeah, um it's not really my age. Well, yeah, they're not really my age group anymore. Um, I mean, some people my age were camping, some people I know from school. But um, but yeah, it was only It's great to just go for that. I loved going for one day because you have no like luggage, you have no bags to worry about, you you not having to worry about your tent.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Yeah. Um that's what we've always done because we have done a few music festivals already, but each time we've gone for one day, you get dressed you can be more fun. Yeah, you have more fun with dressing up because you're not worried about it. You can be clean. Amelia took her well that's that's the other thing. And Amelia didn't take her best clothes, you took sort of old hoodies and things, didn't you?

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Just so that you didn't I actually I actually took my school hoodie because I thought no one's gonna want to steal it has my initials on it. Who's gonna want to steal somebody's school hoodie?

SPEAKER_02 34:49

Yeah, um just just because you do you don't want your favourite hat so nice.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

My house, my can we hold personally?

SPEAKER_01 34:57

I think um it's really down to the person. I absolutely loved camping.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Next year I'm gonna go I know I loved it, too.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Yeah, um I think I'm gonna continue doing that.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Um you're gonna continue camping.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

No, not at Reading, I'm gonna go to boardmasters next year. No, that's gonna be exciting.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

I'm I'm running set. I mean it's a tradition now. Yeah, good. But um what was I gonna say?

SPEAKER_02 35:18

You need to get yourself a job so you can pay for the tickets.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

I'm actually in so much debt at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Well you are and you aren't, because what what do we what was our deal?

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Oh my god, okay. This has been the worst week of my life. But um I've I'm only allowed to use my phone for one hour a day and it's £26 per day.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

So so why why why are you not in debt?

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Um, I actually still am because I I went over one hour and now I have to pay for the full day, which I think I think if if I go over an hour and I end up having to pay for the full day, I should be allowed my phone for the entire day.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

No, I think it's zero sum. Um yeah, so so basically we did a deal where I said she can pay off her debt by staying off her devices, not just your phone, yeah, um off her devices for the entire week leading up to school. So that she's only allowed an hour a day, just so she can stay in contact with people, just because it's good to decompress.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

You can't if you if I if my phone was taken away completely, that would be awful because I mean you can't continue. Yeah, because I need to continue talking.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

But but it's been it's painful, but actually it's it's good. It's been nice getting to know you.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Anything else you think we might have missed? Any other top tips?

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, um, stay away from it, okay. It's dependent on the act that you're seeing. And I would say this year um the writing acts were really good. So they were like they weren't really kind of like high testosterone, you know, like um 21 Savage. Yeah, oh the prodigy. Okay, fine. But like, okay, but when I went, there was Sean Wayne, and I didn't even know who he was, but my group wanted to go. Um, and literally the entire thing was just mosh pit after mosh pit after. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

And so you want to make sure a mosh pit for parents who are not sure, I'm sure you all are you know what it is, but it's basically where a clearing happens and then everybody.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

I actually thought it was quite fun throwing themselves around in the beginning, but then I ended up getting pressed up between two people, and I genuinely felt like I was gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

But this is where like it starts getting a bit dangerous because it's so easy for things to go wrong, yeah, and especially with like crowd crushes and things like that, people get trampled if you fall over.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

If if someone had had an accident or something like that during the prodigy, they would not have got out. Yeah, it was insane. Yeah the amount of yeah, because we were at the Chevron stage, which is so pressy because they've got all these lovely like cool lights and stuff, but um, it's it's packed because everyone's trying to get under the lights and there's no space at all. And mosh pits were opening up everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yeah, but don't don't be put off if you're going to festivals, obviously. Um but like the t the trick is just to avoid I mean you can't really avoid, but like make sure that you're I mean you can.

unknown 38:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Depending on where you are in the mosh. Like if you're even if you're at the front front, it depends on who's behind you because you don't have to go in while everyone else is says you know, you don't have to be trampled.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

You just want to create space, you want to create space around you. And you want to know that you're with people who who can have protect you and support you. Because some of my friends fell over. Well, I fell over as well. Like we're horrible. We all talk like dominos, we got trampled someone stood on her head. Sounds powerful. But but we were with people who literally just like like cleared a space around us and picked us back up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Um my friend actually, she um fell over during the wash pit, she got a bit trampled as well. You're kind of literally holding on to her, like holding her up.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

I mean, if you find this horrifying, obviously it pe parents are going to have very different levels of acceptance. So personally, I think you had a great time. I'm glad you went. If you want to really be scared, what's the what's the what's the documentary we watched? What was it? Woodstock. Woodstock 99! Woodstock 99. Now, that is probably as bad as it gets. So if you want people said it looked like Sarajevo, the end of Sarajevo. Um so if you want to be truly scared, watch that documentary. We watched it before you started going to festival. But it hasn't but actually generally I think it was an amazing experience for you. You loved it, yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

I actually have another point. Go ahead. So the last act, depending on how badly you want to see them, the last act is always, always really tough because we went into the front area of the stage in the beginning. So I had gone off with Phoebe and her girlfriend for the start, and so I had to fight to find my friends. I had to fight through like crowds and crowds of people, and it was genuinely terrifying. I found them, and then I was like, I do not want to be here because the amount of people who were like cramped into that one tiny space. It was genuinely it was because it was for Liam Gallagher and I was. And it was it was terrifying. I'm like, I was like, I'm not staying here. So I left and we watched it from the back, which was so I enjoyed it so much more.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Yeah. Yeah. If I'd stayed there, and if you and it actually is really useful at least to have one kid in a group that's could so all you girls were coming home. We had two cars waiting with a massive group of girls, and so we had at least one or two people who had phones that were charged. We had life, you know, you can use live 360, you can use Apple Device Finder. Uh yes, exactly. So we knew where we were, we knew where you were, and you it people were staying together, so it just it worked, it was fine.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

And also, sorry. No, you go no if you're continuing after this because I'm gonna change the subject. Oh, um, I was changing the subject too. Okay, fine. Well, I was just gonna say that I would highly recommend downloading the Reading and Needs app. Yeah. If you're going to Running and Needs, obviously, if you're going to a different festival, that might not be useful. But um see what you're missing. Um stay at home, just download the app. It's so good because there's a map of everything, so you can see how it's laid out. They have all the acts on there. And you can plan the day, can't you? You can plan the day so you can like the acts that you want to go and see, and then it creates a calendar for you. Fantastic. And so you it's so easy to keep track of everything. Yeah. Um, so yeah, because otherwise you end up, I mean, you're you're bound to miss some acts for some reason or another. Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Also, yeah, um, going off that, make sure you listen to the first, like the most famous song of the people, because there are so many people who I would have loved to see who I missed because I didn't know that they were there. Interesting. Like, so you mean go through the entire all the acts. Oh, yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

Go through all the acts and and listen to the top songs. Yeah, there's a there's a there's a Running and Meads playlist that's released every year with all the songs from South. It's easily done. Yeah. Brilliant. I like that. Thank you, girls.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

I'm trying to think if there's anything else. I remember what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

I think I think that's brilliant. You girls, well, thank you so much for all that great advice. I loved it.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Um, hopefully you found it really useful at home. If you have, maybe you can pass it on to someone you know. If you didn't like it, then just delete.

SPEAKER_03 42:12

And yes, don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

Um, obviously, this is just one festival, they're all going to differ, but I I wanted to give you a taste of of what's happening to, you know, whether and I just think we've got this whole uh generation of kids who have been brought up in a very defensive way. Yeah. And I like the idea that they get the chance to go out and let us know.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

So one of the things I love about Reading is you get a taste of what it's like without parents or without anyone being able to do so nice. Also, especially like after COVID, it's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

It's so important. Having, you know, just being in those situations where you can just literally socialise with anyone and everyone.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

And and you did you talk to people you'd never normally talk to even from your school who you hadn't really talked to before.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

And you might be people and chatting together.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

And in fact, you this year, you you just bumped into so many people you knew.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

I would take one step and that would be someone I know.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Yeah, it's amazing. If you like the podcast, you can leave a review on the Apple player or um you can text me via the Spotify player. They've got a new quick, you know, quick text. You can I know it's great, isn't it? And you can go to my website which is www.teenagersuntangled.com, or email me on teenagersuntangled at gmail.com. Great feedback is always very much appreciated.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Um give us first ones.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

My vulnerable girls. Have a great week. Bye bye for now.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Bye. Have fun at it running.