Wait, aren’t you the parents of the kids these days? For your information, this current generation is an evolved result of yours.
I will never claim to be the perfect parent, however, the intention behind the phrase “kids these days” pisses me off to no end, and every generation says it. Furthermore, when the phrase is used it’s never complimentary.
Shaming the kids these days excludes nothing and spans from physical and intellectual abilities, neurodivergence, sexuality, gender, appearance, emotional sensitivity, and feelings.
Why do so many grown-ups think they know more about someone else’s gender and sexuality than the person? And why do so many grown-ups need clarification from anyone about such private matters? If you don’t understand, that is okay. You honestly don’t need to. You being clear about who Joey is having intimate relations with is ludicrous and won’t better yours or his life. Unless you are Joey’s supportive parent, guardian, or friend it’s literally none of your business.
And remarks about screen time? (eye roll) Enforce your screen time limit with your children and stop generalizing the rest.
Why do elders brag about their time playing in the woods? Did you play in the woods with this child, niece, or nephew who you are condemning? Did you take them hiking? Did you teach them to ride a bike? Do you continue to? And if you did and they still chose other activities why are they still considered less than you were? In fact, they are an evolved group of individuals that are who they are for good and valid reasons.
If you don’t understand kids these days not only is that okay but also your fault. If you are convinced that you are, or were, better or that your childhood was better, that’s your blindness and honestly not true. Your job is to discover who they are, embrace them, and let them be free. Do you feel loved when someone insists that you’re doing you wrong? I doubt it. For anyone to feel love, especially a child, they must be held by their family and free to be themselves.
Kids these days see the world for what it beholds; they strive to fix mistakes of the past generations that threaten our extinction. If they spend more time in a digital world than the physical one it’s because they are on their way to resolving the problems we created. The physical world is threatened and they know it–maybe it’s too damn scary to fall in love with something that is slowly dying.
And don’t tell me that you wouldn’t have watched television for an entire weekend if your parents had let you.
Stop insulting kids these days. Their quest for knowledge is only stifled by the adults around them. Maybe you are the one who is too tired and lazy to imagine something different than you know. Maybe secretly you are happy that they stare at their tablet all day so you don’t have to interact with them. And maybe that is because your parents didn’t interact with you and why you were gone from dawn to dusk riding your helmet-less head miles from home getting into who knows what kind of mischief.
Condemnation is a statement that offers no solution nor love or understanding, only shame. Behavior modification shouldn’t be your goal. (We’re not talking about felonies here.)
The computer literacy of kids these days is impressive and only just beginning. What they and future technology will be capable of is incomprehensible to us. It’s supposed to be that way!
Every generation deserves to celebrate and brag about their lives, but not while insulting another. Celebrate the differences in the lives and desires of kids these days and only use the phrase if it is followed by a compliment. Our world will be better because of the kids these days.
Tina L. Hendricks