Do you think our age is harder for us teens to live in nowadays, I mean with all that's going on in this world?[i.e. fornication, peer pressure, drugs ect..] Would you say we have it harder, or your grandparents had it harder?
2006-09-01 19:13:19 · 22 answers · asked by K 3 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Adolescent
I look at my life as a kid and the happiest time was at my Grand-daddy's farm. I learned responsibility and respect for life. I ran in the woods and pastures, chased the young bull calf I named Jimbo until he was big enough to chase me. I bottle fed him from the time he was very young. I learned about planting and caring for a vegetable garden.
I heard stories of my ancestors- of Great Uncle Barney as a young Marine on Iwo Jima who was wounded while he fought for our freedom- while helping Granbdmother shell peas, break beans or shuck corn. A hay ride on Satruday afternoon was great. We went fishing and did things together. My Dad and Grand-daddy would take me hunting, fishing and swimming at the local creek. I'd collect worms and crickets while they were at work for fish bait. We helped Grandmother with the old Maytag wringer washer maching. I drew water from the well when I got big enough. Once I was caught in the outhouse that was in the edge of the pasture behind the old house, when suddenly the cows all came up around it. I became afraid of the breeder bull- he was huge! I learned about planting corn, potatoes, squash, watermellons and cantalope, and how good they tasted in August when they were ripe. Momma would bathe us in the old wash tub outside in warm weather. Just a few hours earlier it was a "swimming pool" for us kids to cool off in. I remember gathering eggs from the hen house. I also remember screaming the day I leaned against a tree and a snake was wrapped around it, how Momma came running out of the house and Grand-Mother ran from the out-house in record time I will add and grabbing a hoe without missing a step to protect me from myself mostly.
Grand-daddy always had Wrigley Spearmint gum in his pocket and always would buy us grandkids Cracker Jacks. Sometimes we'd have an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. Saturday evenings were spent around the kitchen table listening to the Grand Old Opry. Grand-daddy would play his harmonica and dance a bit to entertain us too. Sundays Momma would get us up and ready for pray meeting time. If we missed it was because somebody was sick. Momma, my cousins, aunts an uncles would play hide n seek with us. Momma loved softball- and played really good too. We'd also play Chineese checkers or Monopoly, the adults like Rook, and Dad was the best player.
Aaaahhhh yes, the adults had time for the kids then. Everything was a lesson to be learned. My grandparents had no TV in their house until 1967. Hardly ever was on either. It was just so much more entertaining to be together and be family. Today families do not have supper together, they do not attend PTA meetings. Parents fail to attend sports event their kids are in, fail to take them to church, fail to teach them to work for what they have or want, fail to be there for the kids, fail to instill right and wrong in kids, having sadly relenquenched that to television and Hollywood, both extremely poor excuses for teachers. Kids today are screaming for our attention, in many ways and using inappropriate behavior to get it. They are acting out that need for attention- from us the parents. We have done our kids a great injustice in giving them "things" when all they really need is us and our time for a few years before they are grown. My parents are now elderly and failing health, I am about to be Grand-daddy myself. But we the parents and as a society have become the biggest problems our kids have. I pray that one day they and God will forgive us and me for abdicating that greatest responsibility ever given on this earth, the rearing of our kids.
So the real issue is not that the world is any harder, not that the world is any crueler, but that parents have failed to be parents. They're trying to be the kids best friends when they really need parents or they are not parents at all. My parents grew up in the Depression years, how much harder is it now than living then? Not harder, we just need to be parents. Take the kids to church, give them that "something" to ground to lest they become grounded in nothing and blow like the grass in the wind. And they learn the "street" language that Hollywood calls real life- for who! All kids need loving, giving, teaching parents- BOTH OF THEM.
Oh, for your record and per your request I am 51. And my eyes not what they used to be, forgive the mispelled words. Word checker is not working either.
2006-09-01 20:49:14 · answer #1 · answered by hithere2ya 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
No, you don't have it any harder than any other generation. Maybe technology is more advanced and the drugs of choice have changed, but the same type of issues still exist:
peer pressure to break rules
when to become sexually active
asserting your independence
easy way out vs hard work
Also keep in mind, that you have it a lot easier in many ways. Do you have to trek down to the stream for water? Do you have to walk everywhere you go? Did you have to go kill your dinner before you gathered the wood to build the fire to cook it?
2006-09-02 06:40:37 · answer #2 · answered by koffee 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The problems you mentioned have been around longer than you think. Drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, peer pressure, etc.. have been around since the beginning of recorded history.
Teens today face some problems that older generations didn't have, like SAT's and college entrance exams. Education was reserved for a very limited few. The rest were blue collar and farmers. Other problems, like race issues, weren't as big due to segregation and bad laws. While there is still racism, many kids are being raised to think that what's inside is important, not the color or religion.
Overall, I think older generations had it harder. They were expected to work harder to help around the house (farm, store, whatever) and go to school. They didn't have all the conveniences of today, like computers, cell phones, beepers, PDA's, etc... They didn't get a car for their 16th birthday. They didn't have credit cards to charge frivolous things to. They didn't have a lot of things that we take for granted, and they got by just fine. I think that with each generation, parents want their children to have it better than they did. So somethings are getting left behind that shouldn't.
2006-09-02 02:35:05 · answer #3 · answered by welches_grape_jelly 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I think things are much harder today because many many children have parents who are not interested in raising them. The use of day care, as NICHD data predicted, has caused great harm to the American family. When kids enter day care as infants, the approval their father feels for them plummets, their attachment to mom is damaged (besides tons of other problems.)
In addition to the plague of parents still busy being kids, the school system is getting pretty whacked, tho one is much freer to homeschool today. In fact, if your parents took the time to raise you and didn't dump you on strangers, today is probably the best time ever to be a teen, cause of all the freedoms and options. As long as your parents are involved, you'll negotiate the options well.
2006-09-02 08:40:28 · answer #4 · answered by cassandra 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I would say you have it harder now and I am thankful that my children are now grown and dont have to deal with the things that children and teenagers have to deal with today.Theres gangs and shootings,we had drugs when I was a teenager and if you have a strong will and are comfortable being yourself thats all you need.So many are worried about what others think of them..,but it sounds like you have enough strength not to fall into that.You will go far and dont grow up too soon..,and as difficult as parents may seem..,they love you and want to protect you..,after all it is our job.Good luck young one.
2006-09-02 05:03:42 · answer #5 · answered by halfbright 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's all relative.There is no pat answer to that question because each generation faces it's own challenges. The challenge for todays youth is to be informed and make decisions based on the information and not what others are doing: because for as much information as there is out there you still have to find your way to it through all the things there are to learn about. Today there is much more information, tolerance and acceptance for just about everything, good and bad. Sorry, no easy answers here;plenty of room for interpretation. That's life though,...
2006-09-02 07:11:44 · answer #6 · answered by silinserene 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes you do have it harder , trying to fit in where you can get in I would not to be a teen,I'm a grandparent and even some of the questions asked on this site tell you the teens are out of control
my heart goes out to all of you ,I'm from the old school(just found out there's no Santa Clause this year
2006-09-02 07:02:20 · answer #7 · answered by elizabeth_davis28 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The temptations you face weren't invented in your generation. Immorality wasn't just discoverred. Ways and means are different but not more or less difficult from previous generations. Modern children are much better protected from predatory behavior and much more exposed to the seedier side of the world. Parents are much more absent from their children's lives and children are much less naieve than they used to be about dangers they face. All you can do is try to make good decisions and encourage them in your peers. We all survived your years you likely will as well.
2006-09-02 08:25:23 · answer #8 · answered by W0LF 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am 45 and although it was difficult enough for my generation, it has gotten worse tenfold for the teens today. There are no standards now. Anything goes and nothing is wrong. Teens are pressured to be like everyone else and have sexual relations even though they are not ready for it.Every generation is getting worse and worse. There was a time when premarital sex was frowned upon but now its the norm.Try to apply Bible principles in your life and let your conscious be your guide.
2006-09-02 02:23:48 · answer #9 · answered by 2shy2 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I actually think that older generations, like people back in the 30's had it harder because of the Great Depression. People that lived through that were usually more frugal and did not buy a lot for their kids, so people got to be more materialistic because they felt deprived, and now in turn, they are spoiling their kids now because they did not get all they wanted. People back then did not always have a family car, TV, a closet full of clothes, etc. They didn't have internet to help them with their homework. They didn't have public buses to take them where they wanted to go. Their parents didn't have the money to buy them a car when they turned 16.
2006-09-02 02:20:07 · answer #10 · answered by Ryan's mom 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I don't think being a teen is harder now than it was when I was a teen. We had the same issues (a little less technology), but the issues remain, at the core, the same. I work with kids 7th grade and up (and some younger), and I haven't been surprised yet.
2006-09-02 02:21:22 · answer #11 · answered by puma 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋