Talkin' 'bout my generation

Britain's youngsters amongst world's worst for drinking, smoking and teenage pregnancy



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Why UK teenagers struggle to cope



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Youths 'plotted massacre online'



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UK youths 'among worst in Europe'



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It doesn't look good does it?

So what has happened to 'my generation'?

It seems you cannot open a newspaper these days without there being a damning report on teenagers.


Visitor rise at 'hoodie' ban mall



Is this what it has come down to, banning youths wearing hoodies? Im a youth, and i often wear hoodies, but i have absolutely no intention of separating some poor old pensioner from her handbag.

Oh, but its ok, its all justified because the shopping mall in question had "Some 23% more people visited the Kent mall last weekend than during the same weekend in 2004" , oh please!
news.bbc.co.uk...

Even this completely misleading article seems to blame teenagers for Britain being...wait for it...

The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S.

The first half of the article bombards you with statistics and "facts" as to how this conclusion has been reached.

The second half then completely rubbishes these statistics as "misleading" and "simply not comparable"....confused? Typical politics.

But the reason why i include this is because of the last few lines of the article which read as follows:

He wants to set up a website to allow the public to see what is taking place in their neighbourhood, such as the number of louts who have been served with Asbos.

Mr Johnson is also known to support early intervention to stop children going off the rails.
www.dailymail.co.uk...
Is it just coincidence that happens to be the very last line of the story?
I think not.

Another more recent article......

It found that public spending on children in Britain is well above average, at more than £90,000 from birth to the age of 18. Family incomes are relatively healthy, too, ranking eighth out of the 30 countries studied.

Phew, thank goodness for that...oh no wait a minute

Underage teenagers in Britain are more likely to get drunk than those in any other country, and the proportions of teenage mothers and single-parent families are among the highest in the survey.

In 'risky behaviour' - a combination of drinking, smoking and teenage pregnancy - Britain's performance is worse than all nations other than Turkey and Mexico.

A third of children aged of 13 and 15 in Britain had been drunk at least twice, despite being too young to be served alcohol, compared with 12 per cent of American youngsters and 14 per cent of French.

Unlike in many other countries, drunkenness was more common among girls, with half of 15-year-olds having got drunk at least twice against 44 per cent of boys.

Teenage pregnancy is also far higher than average across the OECD. The UK has the fourth highest teenage pregnancy rate after Mexico, Turkey and the United States. In Britain, 23.4 teenage girls per 1,000 gave birth in 2005.

www.dailymail.co.uk...
What is happening to the latest generations?

Are things really this bad or are we being duped by media sensationalism?

Who is to blame: Parents? Teenagers? Government? Society as a whole?

One thing is clear, whatever we are doing is not working. We are spending more than other European nations but seeing the worse results.

Thanks.

[edit on 05/08/2009 by LiveForever8]

[edit on 05/08/2009 by LiveForever8]

[edit on 05/08/2009 by LiveForever8]

[edit on 05/08/2009 by LiveForever8]

For a start your using The Daily Mail as your source, so you can expect the sensationalist head lines.

however I do believe we have problems with alcohol in this country and the changing demographic of younger people and especially young women binge drinking is something we should be concerned about.

Our teenage pregnancy status is pretty shocking too, but we are too afraid to teach our children proper sexual education for fear of upsetting Daily Mail readers.

I work voluntarily with young kids from all ethnic backgrounds and they all have this amazing potential that needs to be guided. Unfortunately parenting isn't what it used to be. Its a sad situation.

I dont think we can blame Muslims for this, although I'm sure someone will have a go.

reply to post by LiveForever8


The kids you speak of are your generation.

The parents are mine.

And guess what? We are the ones at fault. It is the parents responsibility to raise their kids not to be purse-thieving idiots.

Blame them. The kids only know what they are taught. Start by throwing mum and dad in jail for what their brats do.

In my humble opinion, of course. . . .

People usually tend to blame others for their failure. I think this is not an exception on that. Parents blame government for cutting the funds on eductation and such, yet they are the ones that should educate and raise their children. One can do that if one puts energy on it, but usually - especially in western societies - people leave their children for the state, and then blame state for failing, how sane is that?

-v

Originally posted by v01i0
People usually tend to blame others for their failure. I think this is not an exception on that. Parents blame government for cutting the funds on eductation and such, yet they are the ones that should educate and raise their children. One can do that if one puts energy on it, but usually - especially in western societies - people leave their children for the state, and then blame state for failing, how sane is that?

-v

I agree up to a point, but it is the system that forces both parents to work to afford to have children. It would be far better if one parent could stay at home and not forced to work just to live.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Yeah I see where you come from. No, the system does only force the weak, those who are looking for influence and wealth - those, basically unsatisfied with themselves. It is their choice, and in that weakness, they complain.

-v

reply to post by woodwardjnr


It is no bloody excuse for raising idiot children. They (the parents) need to make the effort to raise/spend time with their kids. Yeah, you might not get all the sleep you want, you might not get to spend time at the club/bar/pub with your friends/mates. You might have to skip a meal, or not take time for yourself.

You might have to actually PARENT your children.

reply to post by mikerussellus


Mike it isn't the parents!! (well not completely..)

I didn't have the best upbringing ever and I love wearing me hoodies but I'm nothing like a lot of the kids you see in the paper, but on the flip-side I've got a mate whose 25 and his parents raised him as straight laced as possible and he turned into a drunkard layabout who can't be arsed hold down a job cos it's either get looked after, I prefer my independence from the old dears!

I don't see why kids think it's awesome to basically be gypo's, for some reason it's cool to chill on street corners looking drugged off your face drinking cider.. I'm only 21 but when I was 15 I was playing football everynight. We had cans for a mates birthday or a party but it wasn't drinking spirits or bone marrow rotting cider. Having a few cans in a mates house is a million miles away from lying on the pavement hammered shouting abuse at people walking past (which happens regularly even though I only live in a quiet village)

I voice this a lot with my mates cos I'm sick of seeing it, if I see em on the streets where I live I go over and tell em to sod off, being 6'7 wearing a tracksuit does help aswell. But all my mates feel the same thing and its that any form of respect for older generations has gone out the window for most people younger than myself.

Kids need discipline and structure, I was allowed do a lot of stuff that I wanted to do, go out when I wanted, hang about with who I wanted but there were certain rules that I had to live by, otherwise I had a clip round the backside, or me mum would fetch a bar of soap for swearing. (I never actually tasted the soap, it would get within a foot of my face and I'd shut up)

Worst thing is not only have they got no respect for anyone else, they got no respect for themselves. They don't realise that they look like they've been dragged up rather than brought up and it makes everyone in the surrounding age bracket (sometimes jus for wearing similar clothes!!) look exactly the same.

Clowns

[edit on 16-9-2009 by ItsallCrazy]

I often like to remind myself that the Brits are descended from Barbarians.

Its a convenient excuse anyway.

Bottom line, its the barbarians running the country via commercials, adds and whatnot that have everyone chasing their tails in an effort to keep up with all the # we are supposed to buy, and forgetting that the time we do or don't spend with our kids is the most important factor in their upbringing; not the "stuff".

Cheers mates! As I put on my hoodie to go out for a walk.
And I'm 61.
Grrrr!