Kids operating by no rules

The general indiscipline among many of today's teenagers has been a cause for concern for several years now. Kids these days, it seems, operate by no rules and are in many instances aided and abetted by parents who are more inclined to be friends to their kids than parents.

The result is there for all to see; kids who demonstrate no social graces, have no focus, are becoming increasingly violent. Most of these characteristics they learn at home, some from their peers. It's a dire situation.

I visited the Half-Way Tree bus terminal recently and what I saw there resembled a zoo; scores of high-school kids behaving like wild beasts, while the security personnel there struggle to maintain order.

Way back when I was a teenager, I don't remember being this mutinous. Yes, there was some rebellion, but that was tempered by fear of consequences that would be heaped upon me by my parents.

My father is a big man and only a fool defies a big man who has the potential to rid the world of your misery. Back then too, parents and teachers were on the same side.

These days more parents are siding with their wayward kids, and this causes children to be more belligerent and as a consequence, makes teachers more defensive.

This makes them less inclined to teach and with the salaries they are being paid, also prone to be disconsolate.

It is against this background that I wish more parents would step up and start being parents.

Why? Because my kids have to interact with their kids and as well as you prepare your children for the world; as much as you teach them to be courteous and disciplined, constant interaction with other kids who are not, means that your kids will eventually begin to demonstrate the boorish behaviour that seems to be the norm these days.

I daresay most teenagers, for all the home training they get, will do almost anything to fit in with their peer groups. For them it is important to feel like they belong.

Nobody wants to be an outcast, so many will do what they must to be 'cool', to be accepted as normal as opposed to being weird. That 'weird' by the way, is what you and I would consider to be normal behaviour.

Nobody expects this generation to be just like the last one. In fact, most parents want their children to be better than they were.

However, what we see today would suggest that there is cause for worry because the majority of kids attending school today seem unrestrained and lost.

Having your kids interact with them put your kids at risk.

I hear so many stories about well-behaved kids being bullied at high school just because they choose to act civilised. I hear stories about kids being afraid to attend school because they are fearful of their classmates.

Back in my time in high school, my only fear was whether I got a good grade on my math paper.

Is this the future we face? I certainly hope not. I plan on raising children who are decent, courteous, and have an eye on being better than I ever was. I wish all parents would choose to do the same.

Send comments to

levyl1@hotmail.com