But are they? Let's look at youth suicide for starters. Right through the education curriculum are measures in place to identify at risk youth and to deal with the problem, but it's still escalating. Is the reeal issue in the home? Ok, it's a given that 90% of homes are good homes, stable family situation, good rules and disciplines in place, but really are they? I've been a keen observer of youth suicide for years and find it intriguing that it's not as prevalent in lower decile schools as it is in schools where youth are expected to excel. So is their too much pressure placed on youth to excel, especially from parents that have always lived to excel, always seeking a better and richer life to lead. It's also evident that these children in their early years were the product of parental neglect as both parents worked hard to give themselves and their kids everything they ever needed. But the one thing that was missing was positive parenting, especially with one parent being home all the time to guide, educate and to pass on social skills for their kids.
Ok this is not always the case, we are too well aware that others, especially from broken homes where the sole parent has to work two jobs to keep the family fed and clothed are at risk too. But in these homes you'll find less Playstations, videos and any other tool act as a parent in the adults absence. And generally these kids do have input from other family members so they tend to learn discipline and esponsibility at an early age. Even though the suicide rate from this bracket is still high I'd wager it's far less from a family that has no family structure and everything is about money, standing, and status.
Kids up until the 80's had freedoms. It was safe to play on and walk the streets at decent hours. It was safe to play in groups, social skills were developed and nurtured, by the children themselves and by the adults that cared for them. Then the development of video and video games and other technological tools arrived and the shift started. Petty crime started to infest children's lives so they could afford to play them. Kids still gathered in groups, but the focus had changed from playing and exercising and standing and marvelling at characters on a screen beating each other up. And access to videos that parents watched also made it easier to slip into an adult world at too young an age and develop serious issues surrounding discipline and responsibility.
Today we have a youth that has been through the age of the installation of the Youth Act, through the lack of apprenticeships, through school aged jobs that paid peanuts and are largely slave jobs. And it's showing. Too often you hear from old people that the youth of today don't know how lucky they have it! I'd actually like to turn that around and say Egad!! How unfortunate they are these days. Largely they are lead to believe they have rights from an early age, so parental control and teacher guidance are out the window, to the detriment of the child. They are told if they succeed at school they will get work, yet too often qualified youth have to go overseas to work and those less fortunate in the schooling system have to sit on dole queues as the older generations ahead of them hang on to dwindling jobs.
The one thing I have noticed. RESPECT!! , There just isn't any, or if there is, there is very little. And why should there be? Kids just have no idea these days because parents and teachers have no control, If you can't get respect at home, where are you going to get it. More to say soon, but now I have to go to work in a job many youth won't try.
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