The Fragile Generation

This is a pretty good read I found that looks into why young generations seem ro be driven by feelings and hypersensitivity that is too common today.

reason.com...

One day last year, a citizen on a prairie path in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst came upon a teen boy chopping wood. Not a body. Just some already-fallen branches. Nonetheless, the onlooker called the cops.

Officers interrogated the boy, who said he was trying to build a fort for himself and his friends. A local news site reports the police then "took the tools for safekeeping to be returned to the boy's parents."

Elsewhere in America, preschoolers at the Learning Collaborative in Charlotte, North Carolina, were thrilled to receive a set of gently used playground equipment. But the kids soon found out they would not be allowed to use it, because it was resting on grass, not wood chips. "It's a safety issue," explained a day care spokeswoman. Playing on grass is against local regulations.

And then there was the query that ran in Parentsmagazine a few years back: "Your child's old enough to stay home briefly, and often does. But is it okay to leave her and her playmate home while you dash to the dry cleaner?" Absolutely not, the magazine averred: "Take the kids with you, or save your errand for another time." After all, "you want to make sure that no one's feelings get too hurt if there's a squabble."

The principle here is simple: This generation of kids must be protected like none other. They can't use tools, they can't play on grass, and they certainly can't be expected to work through a spat with a friend.

And this, it could be argued, is why we have "safe spaces" on college campuses and millennials missing adult milestones today. We told a generation of kids that they can never be too safe—and they believed us

This reminds me of when I was in school for Fish and Wildlife management. We used to keep a newspaper clipping up on one of oue bulletin boards about a Naturalist taking a group of kids and moms on a nature walk in a local trail. They stopped to look at some plants. The mothers all freaked out and began handing out gloves, refuaed to let their kids touch dirt or anything outside. When I was a kid we were told to go play outside when my parents were tired of us causing trouble in the house. We got hurt sometimes, fought did stupid things but we were ok.

I have a friend with a young kid, she tries not to be like this with him and honestly he's a great kid. He's smart, polite and capable. I haven't met a lot of kids I say that about.

Nerf the world....

originally posted by: dug88
This is a pretty good read I found that looks into why young generations seem ro be driven by feelings and hypersensitivity that is too common today.

reason.com...

One day last year, a citizen on a prairie path in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst came upon a teen boy chopping wood. Not a body. Just some already-fallen branches. Nonetheless, the onlooker called the cops.

Officers interrogated the boy, who said he was trying to build a fort for himself and his friends. A local news site reports the police then "took the tools for safekeeping to be returned to the boy's parents."

Elsewhere in America, preschoolers at the Learning Collaborative in Charlotte, North Carolina, were thrilled to receive a set of gently used playground equipment. But the kids soon found out they would not be allowed to use it, because it was resting on grass, not wood chips. "It's a safety issue," explained a day care spokeswoman. Playing on grass is against local regulations.

And then there was the query that ran in Parentsmagazine a few years back: "Your child's old enough to stay home briefly, and often does. But is it okay to leave her and her playmate home while you dash to the dry cleaner?" Absolutely not, the magazine averred: "Take the kids with you, or save your errand for another time." After all, "you want to make sure that no one's feelings get too hurt if there's a squabble."

The principle here is simple: This generation of kids must be protected like none other. They can't use tools, they can't play on grass, and they certainly can't be expected to work through a spat with a friend.

And this, it could be argued, is why we have "safe spaces" on college campuses and millennials missing adult milestones today. We told a generation of kids that they can never be too safe—and they believed us

This reminds me of when I was in school for Fish and Wildlife management. We used to keep a newspaper clipping up on one of oue bulletin boards about a Naturalist taking a group of kids and moms on a nature walk in a local trail. They stopped to look at some plants. The mothers all freaked out and began handing out gloves, refuaed to let their kids touch dirt or anything outside. When I was a kid we were told to go play outside when my parents were tired of us causing trouble in the house. We got hurt sometimes, fought did stupid things but we were ok.

I have a friend with a young kid, she tries not to be like this with him and honestly he's a great kid. He's smart, polite and capable. I haven't met a lot of kids I say that about.

I'm a product of the 70s/80s. Now that I am a parent of two toddlers, I'm wonder how my parent's contained their anxiety about my safety. Looking back at my childhood, it is a wonder I didn't put my eye out, still have all my limbs, and in some respects still alive. The sh*t I got away with would NEVER be allowed today unless the child grew up far from an urban area and prying noses.

I grew up in the south. We all had BB and pellet guns. We shot 22s and shot guns when we were in our teens. We all had go karts and 80cc/125cc motorcycles. We rode BMX bikes. Jumped homemade ramps with ZERO protection. We played in a creek. We wandered through the woods. We'd leave home at 9am and wouldn't come back home till the street lights came on. My parent's had NO CLUE where I had run off too. Just that I was with my friends.

We got in fist fights. Bloodly lips. Black eyes. Then we'd hug and be best friends again. We played with fireworks. Blew up ant nests and hornet nests.

My dad built me some kind of big wheel, red wagon contraption that like 5 or 6 kids could ride down a hill. NO BRAKES. We hit a mailbox. It would have been a lawsuit waiting to happen today.

We stayed at home alone around 8 or 9 years old after school.

I got battlescars all on my knees and elbows. I pretty much remember all of them.

Worst of all, my parents would beat the snot out of me when I didn't behave. Not only that, neighbors would beat each other's kids when we didn't behave!

We are in a different time... and I don't think it is for the better.

a reply to: Edumakated

Sounds pretty much how we grew up in 50's 60's in Long Beach,and I have the scars to prove it,seems young people have no self esteem,to try and fail is out of their realm,everyone hates to lose but by losing it sometimes will make you better,if you never try,you'll never know

I've said it before and I'll say it again........ I've said it before. HAHAHAHAHA Get it?

Anyway, A lot of Millennials get a lot of flack, not because of what they may or not be doing, but because this "generation" (that doesn't make any sense) is compiled of completely different people. Myself and most people around my age (nearly 30) are closer to generation X thinking than anything else. We're not entitled, we're not whining about everything and wanting everything on a silver plate. Hell, both myself and my fiance (who is 22) are taken back by the idiocy of the "Millennial" generation and the need for participation trophies, safe spaces, entitlement, and codling required to function in day to day society without having to acquire counseling.

We are screwed though..... It's only getting worse and worse for people that have any kind of spine/self dependency, those that don't need an authoritative figure to make every decision for us, those that have faith in ourselves to survive without extra rules, restrictions, ordinances, codes, and policies.

Remember guys:

We are going to be the hateful, racist, bigoted citizens in 10 years...... With our crazy stories of..... having to buy our own first vehicles and having to work 40 hours a week to afford things....... Having steel playground equipment growing up, and being able to buy junkfood in school........ Being able to stay outside as children past dark without adult supervision.... being left at home without need for a therapist afterwards......

I can't wait.

a reply to: dug88

I wonder how will they fare in the inevitable economic collapse?

oh no, the kids today are allowed to have feelings. what is this world coming to?

What a bunch of none sense complaining


/garbage

Ah the 80's back when fear-porn was relegated to the tabloid aisle. Now my pocket computer notifies me of all the worlds problems in real time.

a reply to: dug88

Generally not a bad school of thought as to why everyone seems so sensitive.

But let me remind you that the media will have you believe us millennial are FAR more sensitive and offended than we really are. I almost never see people actually react to social issues the way that the media says they do... even when I was studying at a State University.

We already fall for their political crap. Don't fall for their agenda of America's fragile youth, as well.

originally posted by: faint1993
a reply to: dug88

Generally not a bad school of thought as to why everyone seems so sensitive.

But let me remind you that the media will have you believe us millennial are FAR more sensitive and offended than we really are. I almost never see people actually react to social issues the way that the media says they do... even when I was studying at a State University.

We already fall for their political crap. Don't fall for their agenda of America's fragile youth, as well.

I agree that the media exaggerates and exploits this. Because along with race, religion and political affiliation, AGE is just another device used to divide us. Don't buy into it.

Besides, in reality the younger generation is usually more indifferent to matters than they are sensitive.

originally posted by: faint1993
a reply to: dug88

Generally not a bad school of thought as to why everyone seems so sensitive.

But let me remind you that the media will have you believe us millennial are FAR more sensitive and offended than we really are. I almost never see people actually react to social issues the way that the media says they do... even when I was studying at a State University.

Maybe it's where you live. I see people react in ridiculous ways to stupid # on an almost daily basis. Many of my friends, who've gone to school or not act like that and go on in those ways. I've seen people flip out on strangers in transit for saying the wrong thing, standing too close, looking at them, brushing against them as they walk past. It's always young people, always. It's not everyone for sure and probably not as often as the media would make it seem but it does. Then again I live in a city with a lot bored rich people with nothing better to do than complain so...meh.

a reply to: dug88

How old are you? I'm 35, born in '82, and (depending on your source) one of the earliest "millennials". You know what? The world were given was garbage. I was raised on poisonous food, and inculcated with lies about how great the future would be if all I did was apply myself. Taught to trust in and defer to a system that has led to nothing but misery. I and so many people I know have autoimmune disease as a direct result of the poisonous food and medicine we were raised on, resulting in physical and mental unwellness that, at least for me, has kept me out of the game of life to a large degree.

The emotional pain of being regarded as "useless" led to self-medication, addiction, and eventually full-circle to creating a sober lifestyle and becoming better and better, healthier and healthier, day by day. Navigating this and discovering health in the midst of a backwards social/medical/educational system that laughs you out of the door if you question their status quo is not easy. I got stuck with raising myself, basically, and a day late and dollar short, literally. Figuring out everything the hard way, no thanks to people like you who - whatever your age - would summarily dismiss others as crybaby millennials or weaklings..."just more beta male whining bruhuhuh". It's valid to be sensitive - even to the point that a brute would call "hypersensitivity" - but the only thing I was ever told is that it wasn't ok to be my authentic self...in a culture that bashes you over the head with the concept of individuality. What empty nonsense. Ironically, coming into my own has been a process of realizing that people like you are the ones who need help. Look...you are here complaining about the younger generation, instead of leading by the example you want to set. Boo-hoo. You are the weak one.

originally posted by: DictionaryOfExcuses
a reply to: dug88

How old are you? I'm 35, born in '82, and (depending on your source) one of the earliest "millennials". You know what? The world were given was garbage. I was raised on poisonous food, and inculcated with lies about how great the future would be if all I did was apply myself. Taught to trust in and defer to a system that has led to nothing but misery. I and so many people I know have autoimmune disease as a direct result of the poisonous food and medicine we were raised on, resulting in physical and mental unwellness that, at least for me, has kept me out of the game of life to a large degree.

The emotional pain of being regarded as "useless" led to self-medication, addiction, and eventually full-circle to creating a sober lifestyle and becoming better and better, healthier and healthier, day by day. Navigating this and discovering health in the midst of a backwards social/medical/educational system that laughs you out of the door if you question their status quo is not easy. I got stuck with raising myself, basically, and a day late and dollar short, literally. Figuring out everything the hard way, no thanks to people like you who - whatever your age - would summarily dismiss others as crybaby millennials or weaklings..."just more beta male whining bruhuhuh". It's valid to be sensitive - even to the point that a brute would call "hypersensitivity" - but the only thing I was ever told is that it wasn't ok to be my authentic self...in a culture that bashes you over the head with the concept of individuality. What empty nonsense. Ironically, coming into my own has been a process of realizing that people like you are the ones who need help. Look...you are here complaining about the younger generation, instead of leading by the example you want to set. Boo-hoo. You are the weak one.

Lol well I'm 29. I grew up in a broken poor family. My mom died while I was still I'm highschool so I spent a while living between my dad's house and my grandma's couch until I finished highschool and went to work at a grocery store. I saved money for 2 and a half years, applied to school, it still wasn't enough, so I took out loans, like an idiot. I chose a profession, that which at the time of my choosing had a large budget and plenty of jobs. I moved away to the city, worked and went to school. Midway through school the federal government changed to a conservative government. Suddenly the environment no longer received any budget and jobs were being cut everywhere. While in school numerous government organizations came to tell us about all the great jobs that used to be available then finished their story with, but none of you will be hired.

I did well in school and through work I was doing in school managed to get some money to do a couple of years of work in the field I went to school for. I made barely enough to survive but I was doing what I enjoyed. After a couple years the money was gone, jobs in my field were scarce so I spent 3 years digging and breaking myself outside. Over this time I tried to apply for financial assistance for student loans, I was refused repeatedly despite making less than $20,000 a year at the time. So I stopped paying them becsuse it came down to rent or student loan payments. Eventually I lucked out and managed to find a decent job completely different than what I went to school for. It's going to break me and give me cancer but it's a satisfying job and it brings me to just the top of the poverty level. Now that I can start paying student loans I have to catch up on about 4 years of interest that's grown my loan about a third of what it was when I finished school.

Over the years of working various jobs I worked with a lot of people. The longest anyone under thirty has lasted alongside me at every job maybe a month at the longest. Many refused to do the work properly, showed up unprepared or complaines constantly. The number one question I get asked by people starting a job with me is 'when do we get break?'

You can call me weak all you want I honestly don't need anyone's opiniin to validate my life. I work hard and expect nothing, while seeing countless people do nothing but expect everything then freak out when the world doesn't give them what they want.

Honestly, the stuff myself, my friends and my cousins got up to while out playing would freak parents out today. We climbed to the top of the girl scout hut and saw how far we could jump off the roof. There was no denying there could have been broken limbs, ribs, or serious head injuries. We all survived just fine though. Kids are remarkably resilient, heh.

Blowing up tin cans with fireworks, jumping our bikes over ramps and hills, digging tunnels, playing in dangerous gravel pits. Playground equipment was used in ways it was never intended.

Remember lawn darts? We made a game of tossing them up into the air and ran before they hit the ground. We all had BB guns and bows and arrows, and of course the ever present slingshots.

Out the door after breakfast and told to be back before the sun set. That was my summer schedule. I was staying at home by myself around age 9 or 10 and knew how to cook my own food.

There was no constant hand washing. No bottles of hand sanitizer tucked all over the place. We got filthy dirty catching tadpoles in post-rain marshy areas. Caught snakes, lizards and turtles. We enjoyed life and being children.

When bringing up my own kids, it was like living in a mine field. The things I was able to do as a kid was a huge no-no with other adults. Can't let your kids play outside in the yard without direct parental supervision or someone may just call child protection on you. Kids can't play street hockey here anymore. There is an actual city ordinance against it. My kids were not allowed to walk to elementary school alone even though it is only one block from our house. The school would call you in for a 'talk' if you dared to let them do so. I'm not even talking K-1 kids either. This school goes up to 6th grade. Sorry, but seriously. Kids that age are capable of walking a freakin block without a parent.

If you believed all the stuff said today about how dangerous everything around us is to kids and how they all have to be protected constantly, then I'd think a good majority of us kids would never have survived to graduate high-school. We did though. The world isn't more dangerous now. There's just a whole lot more coverage of the 'bad stuff' than there ever was way back when.

originally posted by: Subrosabelow

There was no constant hand washing. No bottles of hand sanitizer tucked all over the place. We got filthy dirty catching tadpoles in post-rain marshy areas. Caught snakes, lizards and turtles. We enjoyed life and being children..

There is a theory that says we are too sanitary nowadays and it is making us sicker and germs more resilient.

We used to come home absolutely filthy, just like Pigpen from Charlie Brown. There was a creek running next to my house growing up. We play down in the creek water and mud catching tadpoles, crawfish, snakes, etc. Probably could smell us a mile away. Pissing on trees instead of going in the house. Grabbing a drink of water out of a garden hose. Running around barefoot.

a reply to: dug88

Hearing your story humanizes you and I feel perhaps I've been a little cavalier. I apologize for calling you weak...sounds like you've had a go at it and work hard. I stand by my basic point. The narrative I told is meant to illustrate the damage that's done needlessly by the reflexive dismissal of the "younger generation". If we're limiting the discussion to observation in the workplace, anyone can find examples to confirm or deny that bias, but I think it's too restrictive...it is society wide phenomena.

But aside from that, I would argue that you are still too young to be criticizing younger generations. You and I both are still pretty fresh in the big scheme. Cheers.

Here's your example. Who is at fault, the kids or the parents ?

www.msn.com...

a reply to: dug88

Hard to become an adult when you can't make some mistakes and get punished for them. Hard to learn any life lessons if you're not allowed to experience life. And it's hard to learn how to cope with disappointment if you don't get disappointed a few times.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

You've figured it out. It's some one else fault.