Are kids today lacking respect for authority? (daughter, school, friends)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know that young kids try to push boundaries and all of that but are they more brazen about it now? About an hour ago I went to get some food at a McAlisters and was eating when these 4 girls came in they were obviously high schoolers probably 15 or 16. Anyway they ordered food and sat down in the booth next to me.
They started getting VERY loud and I asked if they could please turn it down to which one of the girls says to me "Why don't you just move?" not wanting to get into it with teens I did but shortly later 3 if them got into an argument and started yelling at each other. About what I don't know but I know one of them threw a fork at one. I heard it and even the girl yelled "you threw a f'n fork at me??" to which the other girl said "yeah what of it?" finally the manager came out and told them to stop being disruptive or they would be asked to leave.
They didn't like hearing that and started arguing with the manager! I couldn't hear everything but I did hear one say "you can't do that we have rights!" the manager then said he could call the police and see what they have to see about it. The girls quickly shut up.
It really amazes me how so many young people have this kind of attitude. When I was their age neither I nor my peers would be so disrespectful to those much older and especially to management.
Oh, and one other thing I found priceless: while the manager was talking to them one girl blurts out "I am recording everything you say!"
He didn't care though. The manager was nice but firm. And to those who may be wondering these weren't some girls from the projects or anything like that. Just typical girls you would find in white suburbia.
I have been a teacher for pushing 15 years, high school and college, literally thousands of teens. I have never seen behavior like that in my life. I have broken up fights in the halls, had kids lash out in anger at adults, get rowdy in groups and so on but as you described? No.
So no, I don't find kids today lacking in respect for authority.
But if it makes you feel better Socrates felt the same way about Plato and Aristotle.
“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”
One of the Little House on the Prairie books tells a story of the "big boys" at school who beat up the schoolteacher every year until the new guy horsewhipped them. Hooligans aren't new.
In Carrie Woodlawn (or Sarah plain and tall?) the big boys killed the previous teacher.
One of the Little House on the Prairie books tells a story of the "big boys" at school who beat up the schoolteacher every year until the new guy horsewhipped them. Hooligans aren't new.
I don't think kids are lacking respect for authority as much as they are just lacking authority. Parents seem to be too worried about upsetting their kids, or they are just plain lazy, so they don't really discipline them. And for the record, by discipline I do NOT mean spanking or hitting, which I am firmly against.
Perfect example: a child is not coming when it's time to leave somewhere. Mom/Dad stand there saying, "Billy. Billy. Billy. Come on, Billy. Billy. Billy, let's go. Billy. I said, 'Let's go,' Billy, Billy" you get the point. This goes on until Billy decides he feels like leaving. What does Billy learn? That he can leave whenever he feels like it because Mom/Dad aren't going to actually make him do anything, and there will be no consequences for not doing what they ask.
I have a degree in Early Childhood Development. I work with kids all day long. I see this all the time, and it drives me nuts.
I totally agree! Although I fall in the "not against spanking camp", I get really irritated with this type of pleading. Not spanking is fine, because it doesn't always work, but discipline/correction with other styles is important. Begging and pleading is lazy.
Yep. I remember that scene from the book. The other youth novel that I remember depicting horrible behavior from multiple generations was Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. While definitely fiction, it took its inspiration from the author's personal interviews with residents of the region featured in the book. Lenski later stated that she toned down the depictions of violence to suit young readers, which like Farmer Boy included a scene in which a teacher is severely beaten.
Free range parenting. Or the lack of complete parenting. Too many working parents that shouldn't even be parents if they throw their kids to daycares. Not much better than foster kids.
Free range parenting. Or the lack of complete parenting. Too many working parents that shouldn't even be parents if they throw their kids to daycares. Not much better than foster kids.
Please don't confuse encouraging age-appropriate independence (aka free-range parenting) with negligence. We absolutely should encourage a four-year-old to play in the fenced backyard alone, let a six-year-old to walk over to a friend's house to play, prod a ten-year-old ride his/her bike with friends after school, ask a twelve-year-old to go to the store for us to pick up a gallon of milk, and happily hand over the car keys when a sixteen-year-old wants to go out for pizza with friends on Friday night, because that's what free-range parenting entails, and I think it's a good thing. I've been a SAHM for nearly twenty years. My kids have barely known a time when I couldn't drop everything for them, and the last thing they needed was for me to hover over them all day long.
Free range parenting. Or the lack of complete parenting. Too many working parents that shouldn't even be parents if they throw their kids to daycares. Not much better than foster kids.
My kids would have been considered "free-range". They never went to day care.
Free range parenting. Or the lack of complete parenting. Too many working parents that shouldn't even be parents if they throw their kids to daycares. Not much better than foster kids.
Gee, I've never seen every ill in society blamed on working parents before. What a novel concept for a C-D discussion.
Please don't confuse encouraging age-appropriate independence (aka free-range parenting) with negligence. We absolutely should encourage a four-year-old to play in the fenced backyard alone, let a six-year-old to walk over to a friend's house to play, prod a ten-year-old ride his/her bike with friends after school, ask a twelve-year-old to go to the store for us to pick up a gallon of milk, and happily hand over the car keys when a sixteen-year-old wants to go out for pizza with friends on Friday night, because that's what free-range parenting entails, and I think it's a good thing. I've been a SAHM for nearly twenty years. My kids have barely known a time when I couldn't drop everything for them, and the last thing they needed was for me to hover over them all day long.
I only know two families who actually call their parenting "free range" and it is so far beyond what you describe as to be laughable. First family were invited to a pool party at a mutual friends beach house. They have a 4 yo was once encouraged to walk barefoot over a broken dock and bulkhead (on a neighbors property which they had to access through the water) that was literally splintering and had jagged bits of metal. When the child got a 3 inch long splinter embedded in his calf dad seemed shocked and had no idea how to deal with it. Kids get hurt all the time, but when your need to vivaciously try to live through your child ends up encouraging them to act as a bad ass and then ruins everyone else's time that isn't a parenting style, it is just being a jerk.
Another time the other set of parents allowed their 9yo to grab the model sailboat my 15 yo daughter and her friend (who is this kids cousin) had built for an engineering competition at school while they were testing it. Dad said free range kid was "just curious" when he tore the mast off. Later in the day he went out to our car and took the model and destroyed and when literally caught red handed dad says "that is how they learn".
What you describe, is just called parenting here. Adding the free range label is just about making a statement. And it's usually understood that those who feel the need to label their parenting style anything are either covering up their lack of parenting or their inherent *******ness.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
