From the same time period and set of circumstances. I have a soon-to-be teenager myself now, and we've set up a few failsafes for exactly these situations. If "shit gets weird," he knows we've got his back, no questions asked.

Kids can be cruel, and you never know who might show up unannounced, for example. He's a strong little guy, but if say three drunk older kids appear to to tune someone up I wouldn't expect him to get in between, nor make himself a natural secondary target by calling in an obvious way. This would negate that, for example. I had a rough childhood myself and no parents I could trust, so it seemed like an important thing to have. It has proven very useful once already. He quite literally saved a girl he didn't even know from getting smacked around by some asshole.

So you also remember how fast rumors and gossip would spread without technology. It's a thousand times worse now. As a parent, I'd be happy to play the bad guy if my kid thinks that's the best choice in their social dynamic. They know better than I do what kind of risk of social backlash there might be.

It's hard to be a kid. Anything that I can do to give them a leg up is okay. I should also mention that that kind of bad guy ploy is only part of it. Talking about situations before and after is a much bigger part.