‘Be careful’ was the mantra of our parents as we set out to roam the neighbourhood as teens. We never were | Paul Daley

Being a teenager in the 1970s is the way that I seemed to take ever greater personal risks the more my parents urged my caution.

I’m tempted to say that being a teenager today is less dangerous, but then I look at the planet, its order and future upended by a trolling, extortionate, narcissistic wannabe king and in moral hock to tech bros who build gold castles on our own.

I’ve always thought my parents, alive until I was well into my 40s , didn’t know a tenth of the risks I’d taken as an adult let alone as a child. I think my dad didn’t want to. My mother always seemed to have an inkling, though. Perhaps that’s why, as she often assured me, she was forever praying for me! - Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist.