Are we raising a generation of helpless kids?

[YouTheCat]

Interesting article in the Huffington Post about if we (generally) are doing too much for our kids, letting them get away with things and not letting them take the consequences.

I have to say I find a lot of it quite true, though obviously not about every parent but in a general way. I see a lot of this at school. Parents descending full of violent indignation that their child has been reprimanded or hasn't got a place in an after school club, where I had never seen this behaviour when I was at school (bloody ages ago).

My own dd (18) has some funny idea that she will waltz into a fantastic job after college when, in reality, she will probably have to work in Asda and gain some experience first.

My DS has just started reception (August born) and we scoot to school every day, twenty minute journey. The astonishment from other parents that we do this every day! It's along a path, not a road, a lovely walk.

I also noticed at the start of September the bike shed was full of bikes and scooters. Then it rained one morning and it was practically empty. Since then, even when the weather has been nice, it hasn't been full again, and now that it's cold (but not freezing) DS's scooter is starting to look a bit lonely.
It's like the automatic response to a bit of rain or cold is to hop in the car instead of putting a thick coat or waterproofs on.

one of my daughters would literally be sitting on the sofa with her legs up and a glass of water on the table next to her and call me from the kitchen to pass her the water !

wow i w as just reading the previous pages are 23 yr old really like that ? or am I out of touch.

I once saw a 7 year old drinking milk from a bottle...

And I see 5/6 year olds sitting in push chairs with a dummy in their mouth!

Crazy.

I would assume the 7 year old had SN

He didn't which I know for a fact.

Better than pop from a bottle though.

When I went to uni I was shocked at how incapable and pampered some of the other students were, one girl used to ring her dad to ask him how to do the most daft things, like how to split a bill between us (erm, calculator anyone?), it was embarrassing!!

Nothing should be in a bottle

I met a family once though whose mother did admit to me that she gives her 18 month old Pepsi in his bottle because if she is drinking it he also wants some. She said she has no other option as otherwise he just cries and cries.....I suggested she just stop buying Pepsi.

But anyway....we digress. Back to the topic in hand

Limited, I wouldnt have minded if the 23 y.o. Was a bit pissed as long as she could fake being sober and get on with her work... and not complain about her hangover. Like i said I was her emplyer, not her mother. Also I was young once, and used to turn up at the investment bank i worked in with varying levels of still pissed and/or hung over. But i did understand that it was my problem and the work still needed to be done. Coffee and codeine were my saviours.

I don't reckon someone that self-centred would want to train to be a nurse anyway really.

Most under 25s are fine and wonderful people who work hard, some have families to take care of.

But the occasional one reported on here is at least providing entertainment.

To access paediatric nursing and health visiting courses these days the applicants are actually interviewed by parents and children so they are able to assess the applicants personal qualities and ability to communicate with families. The parents/children then give feedback to the University which plays a large role in whether someone is accepted on the course.

I am shocked lol

I am 23 and 3 days :)
maybe that's why I don't have many friends

Utter rot,vast majority young adults work hard,and get on with it
It's a shame to see them berated by entitled oldies who got free education
And then promptly voted in fees and loans for younger generation

Noble - I see that automatic response to the weather all the time and I agree with you.

Someone at the kids school had the idea of a walking bus to help encourage a healthier lifestyle and solve or partly reduce the parking and general traffic problem around the school - I thought it was brilliant. I was asked by the head for my opinion (as were other parents) and I had to tell her the truth. For those of us that already walk, it's not going to make a blind bit of difference but those with cars, will soon be driving their kids to school the second it rains or gets cold again. The idea was never mentioned again.

I really don't think today's young are anymore molly coddled than we were.

Yes, they have cooler gadgets but then so does everyone.

My parents' generation (baby boomers) could leave school with 4 o levels and walk into an ok job. That same ok job would now only recruit people with a degree. That degree now costs £30k.

Young people are facing the prospect of never owning their own home, not having a job (jobless rates have doubled in the past 10yrs for the under 25yrs), not being able to afford to leave home until they are over the age of 25yrs, can't afford to learn to drive because insurance is so expensive.

Frankly teenagers are not pampered as society is continually kicking them in the face.

Um I'm still paying off my education! Although, it wasn't as expensive as it would be now.
I agree the young have a tough road ahead, and they can be very hard working and conscientious. But, there does seem to be a larger proportion of teens now than say, in the late 90's, who appear to lack any curiosity about the world, and can't do basic everyday things. I do actually think, to generalise, that phones and technology are a big problem. I get on a bus near a local FE college, and every kid on that bus is plugged into their phone the whole time twatting and facebooking.
Whereas, when I went to the same FE college, I would have been reading a book on the bus.

I haven't noticed that young people are any more helpless nowadays than they were when I was younger (I'm in mid 40s). The majority of the children at my dds secondary school are very capable and quite independent. A few aren't but hasn't that always been the case? Older generations often like to think that they were more capable than younger generations but in reality, nothing has changed.

I know many people in their mid thirties with families who will never own their own home too,(myself included) and who are getting made redundant in sectors they will not get re hired in. I know I made this point before, but these things are not only affecting the young, honestly they are not.
And If I could live with my parents and save money while re training, I would!

I don't think anyone has said that society pampers young people because it clearly doesn't. But the job situation is dire no matter your age.

The article asks whether young people are over-indulged by their parents, not society. I still think some are. But I suppose it may always have been the case but I just have never met any people my age like that.

Yeah, kids look at their phone on the bus but so do plenty of adults. I bloody loved my Sony Walkman and it was the only thing that made a bus journey bearable. Now, I look at my phone on the bus. Big deal.

When I was invigilating a university exam a student arrived and said he might be leaving early as his tutor had said he didn't have to attempt any of the questions that he didn't like the look of.