Teenagers.

[linx]

This is kind of a random thread, but most of the oned here usually are. It's inspired from someone I work with.

There's this older lady I work with and she has a 14 year old daughter. She always leaves work early, comes in late or calls out. I used to make fun of her for it (in a joking way) and shit cause I knew if it was someone in my department doing that, I wouldn't be happy. But now.. I feel kinda bad.

I knew she had problems with her daughter in the past and apparantly they haven't gotten any better. I guess her daughter runs away or what ever. She got arrested for shoplifting a bunch of shit the other day too.

The reason I feel bad is cause she seems like she is a good parent. I'm sure she feeds her daughter, puts clothes on her back and a roof over her head. It even got to the point where she would tske her daughter to work on saturdays she worked.

Have you parent(s) ever said to you "you don't know how easy you have it"? Well that can be said for a LOT of kids now a days. Teenagers now a days are growing up a lot different. They are less respectful. They have less respect for themselves and others. It's sad actually. There's too many fucking punk kids with bad attitudes. They find the wrong people to hang around with and shit goes wrong from there.

I'm not saying I was perfect when I was a kid, but I wasn't a punk little kid either. I did some stupid shit with my friends, but I was never disrespectful to my parents. I treated them good and they did the same for me. Now a days all these young kids are disrespecting their parents like it's nothing.

I honestly think that hip hop music has a lot to do with it. But that's not it. Young people are so impressionable and they love to mimmic what they see other people doing. Especially rappers. I don't want to make this a hip hop discussion though. I think every one would agree with what I said anyway.

I think a lot of people would blame the parents and say it's their fault. But how can their parents control who their kids hang out with during/after school? They really can only control what goes on at home.

I'm kind of going on and on now, but what are your thoughts?

 

[Da_Funk]

Most kids aren't little punks these days. For every "punk" kid there are probably a good 50-75 "normal" respectful kids out there. Its just ones like this that give teenagers a bad name b/c they stand out and are all you hear about.

 

[Flipmo]

Teens nowadays are fucking jerk offs. Fuck that it's 50-50 down the line shit. I see how they act downtown and shit. For example, there's a kid in the bus sitting, a pregnant woman comes, he looks at her. She looks at him, and she asks him in French: "Can you please let me sit at your spot, my legs are killing me?" ..you know what the kid (who's about 14 to 16 yrs old) replies? "I'm tired too, you're still young, you can stand" ...

What the fuck is that...? Most of them walk around with an attitude problem, like the world owes them something. Shut the fuck up faggot you're 13.

 

[Prize Gotti]

I honestly think that hip hop music has a lot to do with it. But that's not it. Young people are so impressionable and they love to mimmic what they see other people doing. Especially rappers. I don't want to make this a hip hop discussion though. I think every one would agree with what I said anyway.

I think a lot of people would blame the parents and say it's their fault. But how can their parents control who their kids hang out with during/after school? They really can only control what goes on at home.

I'm kind of going on and on now, but what are your thoughts?

i was feeling you up until this point. any one that blames media for any of the worlds problems is just looking for an excuse.

the parents are to blame, sure this women may be doing the "work" of a parent, but she doesnt like she is providing the support that she should be to help guide her daughters moral decision making. there is more to parenting than feeding and clothing your children, you have to be back bone of the childs physical and emotional up bringing. now you speak on how you never disrespected your parents, thats because they did those things for you and provided you with the support you needed when you were growing up.

i think what has caused this break down between parent and child is women. now im not being sexist, but since women have entered the work place along side men, they have lost their instinct to be the person to provide this support because their own lives are now too complicated to manage all the tasks parenthood requires.

 

[Da_Funk]

i was feeling you up until this point. any one that blames media for any of the worlds problems is just looking for an excuse.

the parents are to blame, sure this women may be doing the "work" of a parent, but she doesnt like she is providing the support that she should be to help guide her daughters moral decision making. there is more to parenting than feeding and clothing your children, you have to be back bone of the childs physical and emotional up bringing. now you speak on how you never disrespected your parents, thats because they did those things for you and provided you with the support you needed when you were growing up.

i think what has caused this break down between parent and child is women. now im not being sexist, but since women have entered the work place along side men, they have lost their instinct to be the person to provide this support because their own lives are now too complicated to manage all the tasks parenthood requires.

I agree with you that blaming hip hop is stupid. But the woman linx described hardly sounds like a shitty mom. I mean once your kids reach a certain age there is only so much a parent can do. You could be the best parent in the world and still have a child who is a piece of shit because some people are just like that and nothing you do is going to change it.

 

[Devious]

hmm, i don't think blaming the media is wrong necessarily, as long as they don't get all the blame. movies, music, television, they can all have an influence on a young impressionable mind, which is why i always say that artists, actors, etc. as well as production companies, studios, writers need to be more mindful of the messages they are sending through their respective mediums. however, if a child has been raised to know right from wrong, and the difference between real life and entertainment, then these things have much less of an impact. so to say they aren't responsible at all is fallacy, but to put all the blame on them is fallacy as well.

i'll use myself as an example. i've known plenty of people who didn't have real good parenting. either their parents were too busy to care, or just didn't care at all, or whatever the reason may be, but these kids weren't taught the things i mentioned in my earlier paragraph. they grew up listening to rap music and watching violent movies and TV shows. and, lo and behold, most of them went on to become violent people. myself, however, i had parents who took the time to teach me those things. i grew up watching the same movies and listening to the same music, all the same violent images, and i turned out all right. are the parents to blame? yes, but so are their influences in life, most of which came from movies or music. so you can't blame one without looking at the other. art reflects life, but life also reflects art.

 

[Farzin]

We should go back to the beating your child days. I am not talking about hospitalizing them but an ass whooping to teach them whats right!

 

[Bender]

Teenagers have no concept of morals/ethics, that's why their attitude is bad. I blame the government for not having philosophy on the curriculum in schools.

 

[Devious]

what does philosophy have to do with morals and ethics? it's not up to the government to raise your children and teach them morals and ethics anyway, that is up to the parents.

 

[Dogmatic187]

We should go back to the beating your child days. I am not talking about hospitalizing them but an ass whooping to teach them whats right!

co-sign.

 

[Bender]

what does philosophy have to do with morals and ethics?

Please tell me you aren't serious?

Confucius was 'the moral philosopher'.

it's not up to the government to raise your children and teach them morals and ethics anyway, that is up to the parents.

It is up to the government to keep society in order.

Yes the parents should teach their children morals.

 

[linx]

I'm not blaming the media though. They just have a small part in it is all.

 

[Devious]

i am serious. the point i was trying to make, although i should have been a bit clearer than i was, is that philosophy isn't about teaching morals and ethics. it can be about that, you can apply philosophy to almost anyhting, but that's not what philosophy in itself is about. and i don't believe any specific set of morals and ethics should be set or taught in schools, because we each have our own moral compass, and that should be guided by the way you were raised, not what someone in a school says it should be. that's about as bad an idea as using the Bible to set the standard for people's morality.

 

[Flipmo]

The problem is that parents nowadays don't act like parents. Parents try to be their kid's best friend instead. Fuck that, I ain't your friend, I created you. Listen to me, or else I'm putting your head through my windshield.

 

[TheCat]

The problem is that parents nowadays don't act like parents. Parents try to be their kid's best friend instead. Fuck that, I ain't your friend, I created you. Listen to me, or else I'm putting your head through my windshield.

Hell Yeah to that!

i wanted to Rep you but i got to spread it. but your first and second posts on this subject re spot on.
Teenagers are old enough to distinguish right and wrong and they get away with lots of stupid shit because of their young age.

 

[S O F I]

Like somebody else said, parents can only be there for so long. The reality of the matter is that the majority of a teenager's day (even more if active socially or in extra-curricular activities) is spent outside the home. Teenagers and young children are exposed to more negative influences than ever before. This is a fact.

Hip-Hop has been a negative influence probably on a significant number of youth, but not because of content necessarily, but because it's THE GENRE of today's youth, it's what's urban and popular. Every decade had it's own genres and people were negatively influenced.

 

[Devious]

Like somebody else said, parents can only be there for so long. The reality of the matter is that the majority of a teenager's day (even more if active socially or in extra-curricular activities) is spent outside the home. Teenagers and young children are exposed to more negative influences than ever before. This is a fact.

Hip-Hop has been a negative influence probably on a significant number of youth, but not because of content necessarily, but because it's THE GENRE of today's youth, it's what's urban and popular. Every decade had it's own genres and people were negatively influenced.

i definitely agree that parents can't be expected to be there all the time. however, if you raise your children properly, they will make the right decisions for themselves even when the parents aren't there. maybe they won't make the right decision all the time, because hey, we all make mistakes and nobody's perfect, but if you instill the right values in your children, more often than not they will make the right ones.

 

[PuffnScruff]

Like somebody else said, parents can only be there for so long. The reality of the matter is that the majority of a teenager's day (even more if active socially or in extra-curricular activities) is spent outside the home. Teenagers and young children are exposed to more negative influences than ever before. This is a fact.

Hip-Hop has been a negative influence probably on a significant number of youth, but not because of content necessarily, but because it's THE GENRE of today's youth, it's what's urban and popular. Every decade had it's own genres and people were negatively influenced.

hip hop? no. ganster rap music would be more appropriate.

hip hop or ganster rap is not THE genre of today's youth unless you only associate with like minded people. in previous geneartions you could point to specific type of music to that era and youth in it. grunge music defined a generation, rock n roll, big band to name a few. but with current generations you can't point to one specific genre and say it is a representation of the youth. too many youth listen to many genres. if the airwaves that played todays hit music (t.v. and radio) was just rap music then you could say that. but they don't. it is a big mix of pop music like miley cyrus, rock music, and rap. look at how many punk/emo/rock bands have been very popular if not more popular than most rappers when it comes to mainstream music. the killers, white stripes, and so many others i can't think of at the moment. young people of current generations that do not like rap music are not few and far between.

also on the comment about teaching philosophy in schools...lol. from my own experience taking basic philisophy classes in college most people in the class find it hard to follow or don't understand the material. i could understand making it an elective course in high school or a course for more advanced students but more than likely if it were part of the regular course work you would have many students receive poor grades.

there is no one area you can point the blame to why youth are getting worse. media they consume? bad parenting? no good role models in their life? lack of strong father figure? typical teenage rebelion against authority (it's almost a right of passage)? you could create a laundry list a reason but they will differ from person to person.

 

[hizzle?]

lmfao @ both replies by flipmo

 

[S. Fourteen]

Now a days all these young kids are disrespecting their parents like it's nothing.

Compared to when? 1908? I think we're exposed to this kind of negativity the same way kids are being exposed. I mean, if you ever wanted to see how stupid the world is - read the YouTube comments - and I'm not talking about a talkback on an episode of Family Guy.

That's beside the point I guess.

My friend's little brother who's 18 is a classic case. Drugs, boos, slapping girls - you name it.

My friend starts to blame the Hip Hop influence, so it got a little personal for me. If the kid really loved Hip Hop music and understood the struggles - the kid wouldn't be fucking around and getting guns pointed at him. Instead, he just takes all the stupid shit and tries to be a superthug. The biggest bullshit about his blame on Hip Hop music is (and this situation is common) that he himself is a reflection of the bad Hip Hop he dislikes. He's always talking about rimming up his recently purchased car, running up in pussies, owning multiple guns for the cool factor, and preaching of fucking the police. The same kind of preaching he gave to his little brother when he was 17. Well geee, I wonder what happened there. The brother is more of a bad influence than Hip Hop music can ever be.

The thing about using physical force is - you can't just rely on that. You still need a functioning brain to back it up. Unfortunately for this kid - his dad is a crackhead family beater.

Good ol' ass kicking is needed at times, but using the power of your mind should be the plan A at all times. When people talk about being a friend to their children, I think they're talking about the comfort. Being comfortable to talk about anything. When I was a teenager, I was comfortable enough to talk to my mother about anything - drugs, sex, wanting to kill people etc. I always knew that I could count on her. If I didn't have that, I might have found comfort in the wrong crowd or tried to get peer approval by acting like a superthug and doing stupid shit.

PS> If you can teach your kids to watch for traffic before crossing the road - you can control them outside the home in more ways than you might realize.