Are young people in the US wrapped up in cotton wool?

a reply to: ketsuko

I'm with you...except that nobody has considered that those laws are for the platoons of crackheads and morons who procreate unceasingly to pad their trailers with little tax deductions. Unfortunately, the sensible and stable among us get swept up by the blind lady with a scale in her hand, with those that should be starved of oxygen, or spayed and/or neutered.

I honestly think one of the main reasons kids have been "coddled" the last 20 or so years, is the "zero tolerance" policies and the " zero tolerance" enforcement. I'm 53 and have 3 kids, 2 younger ones, 20 and 17. When I was that age, if the cops caught you drinking, they just took the beer, poured it out and sent you home. If you were actually drunk, they'd take you home themselves and let Mom and Dad deal out the punishment.
Now?
Oh Lord. Arrested, taken to jail, fines, court, lawyers, probation, drug/alcohol classes, suspended license, a criminal record......and God Forbid you're caught with a little weed.

We're not trying to spoil our kids, just keep'em outta prison.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Snowflake generation; not worth a nut.

It's not unique to the US, we have more than our fair share of them here in the UK.

The reasons are many and varied....but most have something to do with the increasing influence of the PC Brigade

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

So compared with the US from stuff I read you call 17 year olds 'kids' but we call them young people. You can't drink until 21, can't have sex until 18, it just seems strange to me.

Don't be naive. The LAW may say you can't drink until age 21. The LAW may say you can't have sex until you're 18, but do you honesty think that stops anyone at all from drinking or having sex? The very idea is laughable. So here's a heads up. American "kids" drink and have sex at the same age UK "young people" do. Shocking, I know.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy
Nearly a decade ago the United Kingdom was plagued with violent crime, im guessing this lax alcohol enforcement is a part of that. So much violent crime it was the highest in all of Europe and even higher than America.

It is not much better nowadays, even while the US overall in many jurisdictions continues to see violent crime at record lows compared the the decades prior, despite the media trying to saturate every screen you own with the latest isolated and very uncommon mass killing, and ultimately your mind into believing its time to declaw and defang ones self.

The UK’s surge in recorded violent and sexual crime, including knife attacks, has accelerated at a faster rate than previously thought over the past year, new police statistics reveal.

Perhaps its time for the UK to raise the drinking limit and maybe bring back the guns as a right of the citizen, not a privilege??

a reply to: worldstarcountry

The increase in 'violent and sexual crime' here in the UK has largely been due to a change in law and recording of what actually constitutes a 'violent or sexual crime'.

Successive government policies are destroying the old, traditional pub culture in the UK.

That's one of the reasons drinking culture is changing, for the worse.

US style gun laws would only result in a massive increase in gun deaths here in the UK.
Had this discussion so many times here on ATS.
Keep your Second Amendment, but please understand that we, the British people, don't want something similar.

a reply to: lakenheath24

I wonder why we attempt to protect them from themselves? It never seems to work and only burdens the rest of us.

At what point does Darwin get to take over?

a reply to: ketsuko

Good question. Humans are the only species that do not weed out their weak ones. I want to say self-preservation, but that makes no sense either.

a reply to: DAVID64

That or the plethora of psychedelic drugs that get handed out like candy.

Fantastic replies folks, thank you, very interesting reading, and sorry I'm making a general reply because I had to go out and 2 pages developed, no way I can keep up with that.
The thoughts on 'best friend' with your kid got me thinking, I've always been that with my son, but I've always been dad at the end of the day. My son is a big rugby playing lad and when he was 16 I came to the end of my tether and offered him out for a fight because the arguments were not working.
He started crying saying 'I don't want to fight you dad' then I started crying saying I didn't want to fight him, we hugged, and we've never argued since now he's early twenties...no way I'd want to fight him, he's a gentle giant rugby prop forward and would kick my arse lol.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I would equate the extra violence with increased income disparity and a generation of young adults that feel helpless. The feeling that no matter how hard they try they will never get out of finacial hell. This feeling leads many to an actual life of hell. When no matter what you do hell is the outcome why do anything positive at all?

There are actual studies done that equate income disparity and crime. To balme sex and alcohol for the problems is to turn a blind eye to reality. Oversexualization and alcoholism is the result of a broken society not the reason for it.

You cannot law society into obedience. History has proven this so many times that the saying those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it applies here.

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: DAVID64

That or the plethora of psychedelic drugs that get handed out like candy.

Where? I didn't get any!!

Kids in the US drink and have sex at age 16 or younger.

There are no laws that say two 16 year olds cant have sex with each other. And the laws that prevent perverted old people from taking advantage of a 16 year old are only enforced if the 16 year old presses charges; if your perverted and want to have sex with children you can do it so long as you pick the ones who understand what they are doing and wont press charges on you later. The police aren't roaming the streets looking for adults having sex with 16 year olds.

When I was 18 years old I was sexually active with my 16 year old girlfriend. When we started dating her parents insisted on meeting me ... which I agree with and would do with my own daughters ... we met for like 10 minutes before a date and there was issues after that. They saw I was a respectful young man and where comfortable with my taking their daughter out.

My 5 year old daughter shares a beer with me every time we go to a restaurant for dinner. No one says a word about it.

I will agree that some families in the US impose their own overbearing rules on their children. Its part of our puritanical beginnings. But there are larger groups of families that do not subscribe to that culture. My family culture had a bottle of win on the dinner table every night and the kids could partake. We weren't allowed to get drunk off our @sses... but even that happened from time to time. My grandfather made grappa and wine in the basement of the house I grew up in. So alcohol was abundant and easily accessible.

Most of the laws you are referring too are in place so that there is recourse when things go to far and these young people find themselves in bad situations... if they never do, if they and the adults in their life are responsible then they have no problems.

a reply to: DanDanDat

That was mostly untrue.

If parents find out that someone over the age of 18 is having sex with their 16 year old, even if the 16 year old claims it was consensual and refuses to testify the parents and prosecutor can still press charges and many times the one over 18 is convicted of statutory rape.

It is technically illegal for two 16 year olds to have sex as well in states where consent doesn't begin until 18. Although this is rarely if ever brought to trial.

The effect of the law is that if two 15-year-olds engage in consensual sexual activity and each knows that the other is under 16, they will both be guilty of an offence carrying a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.www.google.com...[/quote ]

edit on 8-7-2018 by Isurrender73 because: (no reason given)

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

I was looking at teenage pregnancy rates and the US comes top with Britain in 3rd place, and it surprised me considering the underage drinking and drug use in the UK. I had actually expected the US to be lower than us considering how you wrap your young people up in cotton wool and call them kids. Source
Young people in the UK seem much more streetwise than young people in the US, but that is just my opinion of course.
All thoughts welcome

You see people use the world kid(s) because they are using it as a political tool to push their propaganda. When you see things like "kid get hat stolen" and the kid is 16, or "kid is shot by police" and the kid is 17 6'4" 230lbs it is just as I said.

Saying that you heard of the participation trophy narcissistic little monsters we started making in the 90s and on lol. They went though life never failing, always told they are the best...etc, go to college and told the same thing while also told, do this degree and its a 100k starting job!. In the end they at some point enter the real world and it eats them up as they don't have that great job and they realize they actually suck...

They either join groups like ANTIFA and do their little girl slap protests, or they really freak out and go kill people.

a reply to: DanDanDat

Interesting points
It seems that drinking and going to clubs etc is more tolerated in the UK though, especially by police. As I said, they prefer youngsters to be in a safe controlled environment than drinking and doing drugs at a secluded beach for example.
The only milestone me and my son had to wait until 18 was the casino, they are really strict, have a scanner for ID to tell fake ones...his birthday was excellent fun.

a reply to: Isurrender73

16 is legal in the UK, and if two people are of similar age, even if one is 14, if the police know it's consensual they never refer it to the Crown prosecution service.

originally posted by: Irishhaf

lastly my parents were weird, they told me and my friends if your going to drink get your stuff come here turn over your keys and get drunk in the backyard.
I also got my first taste of beer when I was old enough to go to the fridge and get my dad a cold one, I honestly think that's what kept me from going to over board. No mystery, no rebelling over booze, my parents accepted I would do it and preferred to allow me to do it in a safe environment.

I have 2 boys 15 and 18 and they can drink anything I got, hell they can smoke my cigars...As they grew up they tasted daddy's nasty liqueur, beer, cigars and today neither drink or smoke...lol Their friends bring some cheap beer to a party all excited and they are like "I got really good beer at home if I wanted it"

There is truth to the old line... The worst kids are the preacher's daughter and the sheriff's son...

a reply to: Xtrozero

Lol, my son failed many times. He's played rugby since the age of 6 and you have to win your place in the starting line-up through hard work training every week before match day.
He is a senior player for our town now and still has to fight for his place on the team for Saturday.
I never wanted a snowflake, and I haven't got one. Suck it up buttercup is one of my dad lines.

originally posted by: Xtrozero
There is truth to the old line... The worst kids are the preacher's daughter and the sheriff's son...

Hahaha! Never heard that before! I went out with a preachers daughter for a few months when I was 15, she was a real rebel.
EDIT
My son went to school with a senior police officer's daughter, she does loads of drugs, but she is lovely. The cop dad has let my son off from loads of things over the years, from drug possession to fighting. I think we could class that as nepotism.