I was on the bus yesterday evening around 5pm, heading to the gym. I was sitting right at the back when a little boy got on by himself. I got the impression he was probably in Year 7 or 8, so still quite young.
He sat near me and was on the phone. He was talking loudly, but not in an obnoxious “I don’t care about anyone else” way - just in the way kids sometimes are. He called his someone who he called 'uncle' in Pashto.
He was telling him that he was bored and had nothing to do, so he’d got on the bus to go hang out with his dad at his workplace. Then he started saying how fed up he was with school - that he was always getting into trouble with teachers, constantly in detention, and that it was really annoying him.
Honestly, he came across as quite cute in that way kids do - still young and innocent. But then the conversation took a turn. He told his uncle that some boys had been giving him a hard time, that he and his friends were jumping them, that they were jumping him, and that they were beating each other up.
His uncle asked him what he did the last time they gave him trouble, and the boy replied, “Me and my friends jumped them.” His uncle then said, “Good, that’s what I like to hear.”
As soon as I heard that, I just thought: this is part of the problem with kids today. This boy clearly looks up to his uncle - he’s calling him, sharing his problems - but instead of being guided properly, he’s being encouraged to fight and behave badly. How is that ever going to improve things?
Isn’t this how gang culture and knife crime start? Small fights that grow and escalate into something much bigger over time.
I got off the bus feeling really sorry for the kid. He literally got on one stop and off the next, but in that short time it was obvious that the adults around him aren’t the best influences. He’s clearly got energy to burn, and instead of being encouraged into an after-school club or something positive, he’s just being told to hang around at his dad’s workplace - while his uncle is actively encouraging violence.
I'd love to give his uncle a piece of my mind!