RESPECTFULLY
panthera wrote: "Regarding all the comments about teenagers being more reckless today than we were...like hell they are. Every single generation has said that about the younger generations for thousands of years. Were it true, civilization would lie in ruins. I think we 'conveniently' forget our youth. Come on folks, 'kids' today are no better or worse than we were. Sheesh."
Sorry Panthera, and no disrespect intended, but it's attitudes like this that foster the way things are today. In plain and simple English, that's B**LS**T. When the hell did we ever worry about having a fellow student bring a F***ING gun to school to blow us away? Did you have metal detectors at your doors or security guards monitoring your halls???? If you're over 30, I doubt it.
The degree to which we got away with stuff is nowhere near what's happening today. It's escalated exponentially (pushing a kid around, then, vs. blowing him away, now). I see high school kids every school day, and I thank God I'm not raising a kid today. Parents taking the easy way out by appeasing kids are in the majority. Parents giving a "slap on the hand" ("Mary, you know that's wrong, don't you? Well good. Don't do it again. Good girl.") and not giving consequences are in the majority. Parents not spending enough time with their kids (training them, instilling values) are in the majority.
I think you get what I mean. Many parents have taken the easy way out at the expense of their kids, and every person their kids come into contact with, including innocent motorists on the same road with these kids. There's always someone else to blame... guidance counselors, TV, a "bad kid" at school, et cetera ad nauseum. Just for the three I noted, in order, meet with the guidance counselor and find out what's going on (you might have to miss a little work, but this is YOUR KID), monitor what they watch on TV (manually or via V-chip), and forbid them (and MEAN IT) from hanging around with that "bad kid."
Damnit. Take responsibility for YOUR kids. You had them, and they're YOU'RE responsibility. Ground 'em. Take away their cell phones or IPods. Make them stay in their rooms studying (ONLY after removing the power packs from the laptop, game system and TV).
And if any answer includes, "Well, I can't take off time from work because we have to pay the bills," do what you need to do to lower the bills:
-nix movie channel packages on cable
-buy good-looking but [gasp] non-designer clothes
-cut the text plans and unlimited calls plans from the kid's cell phones [they pay for any overages]
-Don't buy a wide-screen LCD or Plasma TV
-have them work for allowances (you don't have to pay a service to do the work) and get part-time jobs when able
-MOVE INTO A HOUSE YOU CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD
This is a generation of some of the most self-centered, selfish, rude, disrespectful, ENTITLED children and young adults that we've ever seen. Every child is raised that they are entitled to be a winner. This has fostered a junior society of whiners! Remember when you had to try out for a teams to make it? And if you weren't good, you didn't play? Tell us what happens now, parents of the 2000's! Everyone gets to play. Everyone gets a trophy or certificate for something. What it tells kids is that there are no losers and everyone's a winner! Just wait until they get into the real world.
I gotta get off the soapbox... I'm getting a nosebleed. Probably where the aneurism is coming from!
Chuck