Teenagers Now

“They seem to grow up so quickly these days” is commonly on adult lips followed by "When I was young" and a tirade of which the main line of argument seems to be that not only was life much harder, but that everyone did a better job of living it. It seems to me however, that there can be no objective discussion as no one is a teenager twice.

The young of today do have problems. They are considered adults long before their parents were. This removes the frustration of not being taken seriously or respected, and allows much more freedom. Unfortunately, it often makes life harder because teenagers are not adults. Although they look and act like adults, they lack experience and so often make mistakes which people don’t understand or tolerate. Unfortunately, the family is not such a strong and supportive unit as it was. One-parent families are common and mothers often work, either because they have to or because they wish to have a “career”. This means that children and teenagers receive less care and time, and this lack of parental input leads to many teenagers dropping out and not working. “Mothering” is no longer recognized as the most important and difficult job and this in turn devalues children and teenagers.

Young people start to dress and look like adults at an early age and so come into contact with drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and sex earlier. The permissive society that we live in now is very contradictory and difficult to contend with. It has also so changed that parents have no idea of the pressures put on the young by their peers and so cannot help them. AIDS is a new threat, but perhaps will help teenagers as it will prevent them from “sleeping around” and so losing much self-respect. It might also give them an unquestionable reason for saying “no’.

If you conclude, as I have, that adolescence is harder now than it was for our parents, it might also be recognized that being a parent is also now more difficult.