Rant Wednesday is my opportunity to voice concerns I am having in an effort to get some feedback and open some discussion around the topic.
This week I want to talk about something that bothers me on a regular basis. It is when I hear others speak negatively about our youth. We often hear talk that our youth are entitled, spoiled, disrespectful, lazy, etc.
What bothers me about this is two things. The first is that this is simply not true. While there may be some youth who demonstrate negative behaviors, it is not right to make this representative of all youth no more than it would be alright to hold any other groups responsible for the behaviors of a few.
The second thing that bothers me about this is if our youth are entitled, disrespectful, and lazy, then doesn't that responsibility fall to those of us who are raising them? I am the mother of teenagers and I understand that raising children in this technology driven world is a challenge.
However, our responsibility remains the same. If too many of our youth are taking part in negative activities and not progressing then we have to look at ourselves first. I will be the very first to admit that I do not always know the right answer.
Parenting has never come with a manual and the answers are not one-size fits all. But, we are responsible for holding our youth accountable for any negative actions and for nurturing their positive actions.
We must also acknowledge that we have amazing young people out there that are doing great things to make a positive impact on the world. We have young people volunteering, helping their families and others, and identifying and developing their talents.
What do you do when you hear these conversations? What thoughts do you have about why we spend so much time speaking negatively about our youth and what we should be doing about it? Let's hear from some young people and some adults.
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