KIDS OF TODAY

Where do I start on this particular subject?


It’s a subject of constant commentary, some of which beggars belief ‘our kids’ (how I despise that term – they are not priceless! Your’s may well be to you – of course, it’s how it should be, but while I don’t wish him or her any harm, I am rather indifferent their existence).

I think back to when I was a child – a 70’s kid; a time of innocence, of climbing trees, playing football with the discarded clothing used as the goalposts. I would spend the summer holidays running around outside, sometimes significant distances from home.
Wasn’t it a better time then?
That’s not to say there weren’t dangers; that it was some kind of utopia for children where safety was guaranteed. But, for this scribe at least, most of the danger came from my rapid descent under the force of gravity from one of the aforementioned trees, or while playing football on a tarmac road (DUTY OF CARE! DUTY OF CARE! Someone call my lawyer!!). Progressing upon the discovery of…the glorious two-wheeled form of transport… to dismounting rather ingloriously – often. My poor mother…how she worried every time she got yet another call from the hospital.
So I was a tough kid in that respect (not so tough in another – but we’ll avoid that particular subject!)
It puts me in mind of a conversation I had with an associate some time ago. This associate (who will be a subject of his very own article later) had a ten-year old son. Whom, it seemed had spent his entire life wrapped almost literally, in cotton wool. The boy apparently had never cut himself, scratched himself, fallen over resulting in abrasions of any kind. I was quite stunned – I mean, a ten year old “wee lad” without any scrapes. Hoho, much like counting the rings on trees to ascertain their age, the amount and size of scars/abrasions on the average “wee lad” can be loosely counted to guess his age!
Of course, with today’s namby-pambies, this has lost its accuracy somewhat.
So upon learning of this disturbing fact, I shot back, “if he hasn’t fallen over by the time he’s eleven – push ‘im over”.


If one considers a rough graph of the age of kids as pertains to more typically accepted adult behaviour such as working, driving, violating etc, it has come full circle from Victorian times when thee wee urchins scrabbled around inside the chimneys of old London town.

Today’s kids are different – soo different; tomorrow’s kids different again and so on and so on. Climbing trees is almost unheard of now, whether because of the technological advances or the environmental, it’s hard to quantify but what was a staple of my youth and those of generations before me, has now become signed to the redundant heap.


Walking to school also is becoming less and less prevalent as parents’ concerns for the safety of their children predominate. Mention of such must surely bring to mind the recent disturbing events surrounding the McCann family and their child daughter, Madeline. Paedophiles and their nefarious ways have been around since Adam was a boy but with the invention of the World wide web, their onerous networks now join in frightening collusion. So perhaps it’s not surprising parents feel as they do.
And a side effect of this is to bring up fatter children; this can’t be laid just at the feet of child predators. Food manufacturers must take their share of the blame – as do the very parents themselves to a degree (and arguably ultimately).

Reports released recently tell of a depressed society of kids; they feel the pressure of success even at their young age. .Kids as young as 10 are being presented at their doctor complaining of depression. It has reached such a level that on occasion they just ‘flip out’ and shoot up a school.
These types are commonly referred to as EMO’s, short for emotional and they typically wander through life with a chip on their shoulder or as if they live constantly under a cloud. Poor little darlins!

In LA recently, it has been reported that four children between 11 and 13 were caught having sex. My first thought was – we’re regressing; as a society we are returning to our primal instincts when it come to sex.
Paradoxically, as we progress as a society, consciously attempting to steer ourselves towards a higher level of civilization, the core of us seems to be returning to a base level. It’s almost as if nature has stepped in to redress a natural order. Man as a species has constantly tried to manipulate the natural world to his own benefit. This, as everything, comes with a price
The English language as we all know, and much like the law, is constantly evolving to suit societies varying trends. Every year new words are added and some removed - those that are considered antiquated.
Maybe we should add respect to the list of defunct words for the only people from whom said respect seems to be forthcoming are of the older generation.

Modern youth, brought up on a diet of 'want it now' and immune from any sort of ramification for their acts seem unable to express respect anymore. It used to be a parent's job to teach this but it has been removed from their hands by the machinations of the PC lobby and the bleeding hearts (God, how I despise those people).

These very same people are now the ones whose voice laments the loudest the lack of respect amongst the youth of today.
"Why can't they show some respect to their elders", they ask. "Why do they behave as they do?"
The bleeding hearts haven’t learned the art of retrospection; so convinced they are of their opinion they can’t see the actual results. They see them and with hands wringing, bleat “what can we do”. What you can do is f…no, I promised I wouldn’t use profanity.

Kids are brought up to believe that they're untouchable; they are free from punishment, instead having to sit while their hand-tied parent/guardian tells them why it's wrong to be rude to people - which they subsequently ignore, chuckle to their friends and carry on regardless.
"Hitting kids simply teaches them to use violence to solve their problems", is another phrase the PC are fond of repeating. What nonsense!

I've been whalloped many times in my life and NOT ONCE did I NOT deserve it. Didn't like it much; had a sore arse afterwards too but whatever it was that warranted such a clout, I rarely repeated. If I was stupid enough to do so, then I could expect more of the same.
And I have never started a fight with anyone in my entire life!

Then of course they blame the advent of the modern computer game - the games in which it's cool to steal cars, beat people up, maim and kill. We had those games when I was a kid too - true they weren't quite as graphic but the intent was the same. "Shoot 'em up" games they were known as. I played them, I stopped and went outside to kick around a football with out thoughts of torture and violence invading my mind.

I can remember some time ago when some no mark came out in condemnation of the old Tom and Jerry cartoons, claiming they were too violent, that they encouraged violence among the kids.
”... ... ...” (this is me speechless). Maybe someone should have told these people - they were just cartoons, unreflective of real life (cause we all know in real life the poor mouse always gets the shit end of the stick when encountering a cat - one of the reasons, along with selfishness, why cats are bastards but that's for another time).
Isn't it our duty as adults to educate the young in this? Oh, that's right, we can't anymore - some bleeding heart protective of kiddies' delicate little minds has decided that to ‘capital punish’ is wrong.
Well, we all are now facing the result of that over protection. A report recently released claims something like 50% of female school teachers are in fear of their students. AVO's (apprehended violence orders) are commonplace amongst our teachers. Can you believe it? The very people in whom we place our trust to educate our young are now afraid of them.
When I was at school, it was I who had the fear, not only from the authority of the teacher but what my parents would do when told of my misdemeanour. So it was a double whammy - not only did I have to endure whatever punishment the teacher chose (whether it was a clip round the ear - that's "clip" not "punch" or the embarrassment of standing in front of the class while I was publicly chastised) but I also had a whallop from my parent to look forward to when I got home! Boy, I hoped it was my mother; my father’s hands were the size of dinner plates back then!
Now, it's a case of "what are you gonna do about it - you can't touch me, I'll call the cops". Sweet Lord, see what you people have caused with your "protect the little ones" mentality. The very authority to teach has been removed along with parenting.

And now we hear of an 11 year old in Liverpool, UK being shot in the back of the neck by another mere ‘babe’, reported to be only 13 or 14 himself. This kid rode up on the epitome of kids’ transport, the BMX bicycle, withdrew and handgun (not the plastic toy of yesteryear but a fully operational weapon) and fired three shots. One went wide; one into a parked car and one into the 11 year old’s neck, killing him instantly. This from a child; not a warchild from Sierra Leone, but a young English boy, brought up with civilization’s benefits.

What might lurk in the mind of this child to prompt such an action of deliberate and presumably premeditated murder one can only guess. And although premeditation carries a greater sentence according to law, what is arguably more frightening, is the possibility that the boy did this on the spur of the moment – just up and shot someone dead because...he didn’t like the look of the boy? Had felt aggrieved for some reason, affronted, insulted? Scary. What sequence of events has the boy experienced to lead him to a place of such unquestioned violence?
This has occurred as a direct result of the mollycoddling of past liberals treating the young like precious artefacts and shielding them from all responsibility. They know face no punishment for all but the most heinous of crimes (as this one surely is).
And even in such crimes, the punishment is more an acquiescence to public outrage than any real form of punishment. The last time such an outcry was heard was after the Jamie Bulger case, the child murdered by the other children, also in England.
The two perpetrators, only barely teens themselves have served about 5 years each in a children’s facility. Rumour has it they have now started new lives Down Under; they would be just adults now.

Kids coming to school with knives and guns is becoming increasingly prevalent as well. Where a school child gets a gun in the first place is a sad indictment on society in itself.
The "little ones" aren't so innocent anymore.