What's Up with Teens?

Is it just me?

Published on December 27, 2005 By Silver_and_Jade_Tears In Blogging

Have you ever clicked on a "Goodbye JU" article, and it was from someone you didn't even know blogged here?

I did, today. She (I think) said that she had been here for awhile, and she was going somewhere else because "All there is to it is a bunch of overly sensitive people who need to get a life." Hmmmm....

I find it very offending when a teenager (again I am assuming this after shuffling through her old articles) tells mature (in most cases) people that they need to get a life. Perhaps I am a dying breed (the martyr trumpets are sounding...), but I do my best to respect those that are older than me. Granted, at times it gets hard when there is someone that is only a few years older, but all the same I do try.

So why is it so hard for teens that are just a little bit younger than me to be so disrespectful? Why do they believe that they are entitled to everything, without working for anything? And is it society, or is it parents?

Society tells kids (young teens in particular) that they are just as good as adults. They should be allowed to have all the sex and money they want, all the toys, all the frills, but it doesn't say that adults work for their things. Adults pay bills, and have jobs.

Is it the fact that most parents are working, so they aren't around to teach manners? I don't understand where parents allow kids get off laughing and punching each other at a funeral, in church, or some such situation. Kids will be kids, but isn't there a line to draw between being a kid, and being downright disrespectful? Not teaching a child to respect others will cause them to completely disrespect you, because they don't know how to respect.

Argh.

Comments

sushiK

on Dec 27, 2005

One question:
Do you have kids?

I am guessing no. Alot of what you seek is found in having your own kids.

Babies are meant to throw-up on your good clothes
Children are meant to spill milk on the floor
Kids are meant to test the limits
Teenagers are meant to be obnoxious.

Just how things are and will always be.

Silver_and_Jade_Tears

on Dec 27, 2005

One question:Do you have kids?

Yes, I have a daughter, and though she is FAR from being a teen (she's only two) I am trying my best to teach her respect.

Babies are meant to throw-up on your good clothesChildren are meant to spill milk on the floorKids are meant to test the limitsTeenagers are meant to be obnoxious.

Actually, all four groups do all those things.

garsgolfer

on Dec 27, 2005

First in whomever's defense, there are some folks here that I think really need to get a life. Some need to develop "get along in the sandbox" skills. However, that's not exclusive to JU, it's Internet wide. So, "she's" not to far off the mark.

We have a 14 yr old adolescent and my wife is an LCSW at a live-in facility with over seventy troubled teens as a result of pathetic parents. Remember, kids are born innocent. It's parents that ruin children. Most parents from my generation (45-60 range) lost the ability to parent early on in the 60's-70's during their rebellion period, after rejecting how their parents treated them. What was right building our young country became wrong because.... As they brought children into the world they didn't replace what was done wrong with a newer improved version. They left out values, boundaries and social skills. Subsequently, their children grew up as latch key's learning how to be alone before it was healthy. Therefore, kids not knowing shame or the difference between right and wrong became the order of the day. Consider the ages of those participating the increase in fights at athletic events, teens through 30 something's including professional athletes who use to be role models, not any more. Their just rich older children.

The word "respect" isn't in the vocabulary of most teens through 30 something's today. They have little in the way of values to guide their behavior. What they do have is a sense of abandonment, questionable self esteem and little to no understanding of real world issues or how to handle life's obstacles, thanks to their parents. What to do when you run out of money, ask your parents and or if need be move back home at 25-40 yrs old, proverbial children that produce like children.

EventHorizon

on Dec 27, 2005

Dont worry, not all of us are disrespectful jerks and self-centered drama queens...

Although, those two groups tend to 'yell' louder, and hence get more attention.
...Which gives the rest of us a bad rap, as evidenced by sushiK: "Teenagers are meant to be obnoxious"

I don't understand where parents allow kids get off laughing and punching each other at a funeral, in church, or some such situation.

'Cause laughing at a funeral and punching other kids are forms free speech, damnit!

stutefish

on Dec 27, 2005

Teens are, by and large, chumps.

I also believe that their rights, or at least their entitlements to have their right recognized and respected by society, are much more limited than for adults.

I'm all for teens acting like adults before getting treated like adults.

Silver_and_Jade_Tears

on Dec 27, 2005

Teens are, by and large, chumps.

I don't have a clue what a chump is. Sounds like a mix of a candy bar, and monkey...

Dont worry, not all of us are disrespectful jerks and self-centered drama queens...

Yes I know, being an (adult) teen myself, I do realize that some of us are actually normal.

I'm all for teens acting like adults before getting treated like adults.

I am as well.

What they do have is a sense of abandonment, questionable self esteem and little to no understanding of real world issues or how to handle life's obstacles, thanks to their parents.

I know this is true, because I have faced all of that myself, as have most teens I know. I hate to blame my parents specifically though, despite the fact it is more than likely true.

Dr Guy

on Dec 27, 2005

I have to go along with most of what Titan said, however, while I am of age, I was never one of the Spock generation.

But too many of ours are of that generation, and their children are young adults or teens now. And indicative of the rebellion you speak of.

Silver_and_Jade_Tears

on Dec 27, 2005

I was never one of the Spock generation.

spock and chump...

Spock sounds like a space name. Meet Mr. Spock.

LoL

Furry Canary

on Jan 01, 2006

'I have to go along with most of what Titan said, however, while I am of age, I was never one of the Spock generation. But too many of ours are of that generation, and their children are young adults or teens now. And indicative of the rebellion you speak of.'
I don't think Dr. Spock can be held solely responsible for what is perceived as teenage rebellion. The media have been reporting such generation gap issues for over 200 years!

Dr Guy

on Jan 01, 2006

don't think Dr. Spock can be held solely responsible for what is perceived as teenage rebellion. The media have been reporting such generation gap issues for over 200 years!

Please re-read the response. You have a nasty habit of assigning absolutes where none were stated or inferred.

Furry Canary

on Jan 01, 2006

'You have a nasty habit of assigning absolutes where none were stated or inferred.'
No absolutes nor insults intended, Doc. Titanl9 suggests that parenthood went downhill in the 60s - 70s, and you concur. I was just making the point that the idea that the younger generation are somehow worse than 'we' were at their age is not a recent phenomenon - indeed, it has been a fixture for generation upon generation.

Zoologist03

on Jan 01, 2006

Heh, heh...ah, we teens are a trifling bunch, eh?

Personally, I try to be as respectful as I can, especially to those with a good score of years on me. For a teen, I'm quite boring...though I have my tendencies to be a little obnoxious here and there.(ah, my parents would view that as the understatement of the year...and it's the 1st. lol)

I do notice that many of my peer group...well, the younger ones are sometimes a bit...how shall I put this...insane. Yeah, that works. However, don't lump all of us into that group, stereotyping is bad...yet works well for standup comedy. lol

I suppose as all generations grow older, teens will remain essentially unchanged...well c'est la vie as the French say.

~Zoo

Dr Guy

on Jan 02, 2006

No absolutes nor insults intended, Doc. Titanl9 suggests that parenthood went downhill in the 60s - 70s, and you concur. I was just making the point that the idea that the younger generation are somehow worse than 'we' were at their age is not a recent phenomenon - indeed, it has been a fixture for generation upon generation.

I did not mean to imply it was never a problem, and I do think it went downhill in that time. However, my reference to Spock was not to indicate an absolute as you then stated "solely". No, it was just a factor. And I am aware of Aristotles litanny against the younger generation as every generation has rebelled against their parents. However, it was in the 60s and 70s the parents surrendered. Where as I do not remember Aristotle speaking to that issue, or anyone else for that matter.

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