Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To say that the next generation is primarily screwed in terms of resilience

863 replies

Namechangechangeobv · 26/02/2024 13:14

And WTF do we do about it?

Obviously many young people are wonderfully resilient but the overall trend I’ve seen in my line of work (behavioural education) is that there are vast, and I mean VAST numbers of young adults who cannot leave the house, come into a classroom, look someone in the eye, make a phone call, speak infront of the class (if they make it in), cry when pronouns are wrong (daily occurrence), take responsibility to revise/get a job/learn to drive.

What is going to happen to these humans in the future?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
Samlewis96 · 26/02/2024 19:42

MrsMurphyIWish · 26/02/2024 15:46

Agreed.

Ms son is autistic and has an EHCP. We have always known he was autistic. He is not allowed to opt out of things that make him uncomfortable. I have told him he will be autistic for life and the world can not bend to meet his needs, he must be able to learn strategies to cope.

I can detail too much about this event as it will opt me, but last year I was so proud when he was selected to represent his school at an event. He was anxious - he hates new things - but he did it by practising his coping mechanisms.

Im sure I’m labelled a tough parent but our children need to experience discomfort. It’s a natural response.

My brother has dyslexia. Told by my mother that it merely meant he had to work harder than most people to get the same results at reading/ writing etc. He's now 40 and in an area manager position earning 70 k. Doubt he would've done so well if Mum had the attitude of " oh well you can't do it" and made excuses

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 26/02/2024 19:42

dimllaishebiaith · 26/02/2024 13:22

You mean the generation who was taken out of school, educated in challenging circumstances and has then had to adjust to being back in school again, so long as there are no strikes (which I support) and their classroom isnt about to collapse in on itself...

I would say just turning up is showing so flipping resilience in the context to be honest

I agree.

It's very worrying that the OP seems to work with young people and yet is at best dismissive and at worst mocking of any trauma.

It's people like that who exacerbated my daughter's trauma throughout her education.

Namechangechangeobv · 26/02/2024 19:43

Jc2001 · 26/02/2024 19:31

Stop being so stupid and stop reading/believing everything you watch/read on social media and the Daily Mail.

People like you live in an echo chamber and need to start thinking for yourselves.

Try looking around rather than learning everything you know from some extreme influencer that represents a minute portion of the population. Also stop watching the other end of the spectrum who whip people like you up into a frenzy.

Edited

Did you skip the reading the post part? 😂😂😂

OP posts:
Bushmillsbabe · 26/02/2024 19:44

MaggieHM · 26/02/2024 19:33

Its OK everyone because according to some hopeful people once the Labour Party get in charge everything will be OK. 😆😆

Yes, because throwing money at the problem will clearly fix it. Nhs funding is at highest level ever, but more people than ever are struggling with mental health, on long wait lists for ops etc. Its not a lack of money - its a lack of direction, abuse of a system by both staff and patients , poor management, lack of self responsibility. No idea what the solution is, no one will properly overhaul on 'iconic, precious, sacred' nhs as its seen as untouchable

Tiggermom · 26/02/2024 19:47

MaidOfSteel · 26/02/2024 19:28

I don't know. We couldn't go to school during the late 1970s oil shortages as they couldn't heat the buildings. No drama; we just had to walk into school to pick up work set by the teachers and do ut at home. Only my parents left school at 14, in the early 60s, so couldn't really help and the library was also shut.

I think social media has a heck of a lot to do with youngsters' problems nowadays.

Early 70s. During the miners strike and no coal reaching power stations there were rolling blackouts in different areas.
We stayed off school. Had no electricity some days at home. I don’t remember a squeak about special arrangements to catch up with schoolwork/ angry parents/ gov special measures We just missed some school then caught up afterwards.

Jellycatspyjamas · 26/02/2024 19:49

Ms son is autistic and has an EHCP. We have always known he was autistic. He is not allowed to opt out of things that make him uncomfortable. I have told him he will be autistic for life and the world can not bend to meet his needs, he must be able to learn strategies to cope.

I think it’s a fine balance, both my two have ASD/ADHD with a load of trauma in the mix. I push them to move out of their comfort zone and do things they find uncomfortable but they also need to know when it’s ok to say “no”. They’re still growing, their coping strategies are still developing and will change as they mature.

Part of my role as a parent is to help them find balance, which their conditions make quite tricky because their thinking is very black and white. I’m very attuned to when something genuinely is too much, when they need some down time and when it’s beneficial to just get on with it.

Devonshiregal · 26/02/2024 19:50

dimllaishebiaith · 26/02/2024 13:22

You mean the generation who was taken out of school, educated in challenging circumstances and has then had to adjust to being back in school again, so long as there are no strikes (which I support) and their classroom isnt about to collapse in on itself...

I would say just turning up is showing so flipping resilience in the context to be honest

Eh? They weren’t in a war. They (the majority obvs) didn’t have cancer treatment. They were at home with some parental stress and Netflix? Not trying to say it was easy - it wasn’t, I was there - but come on that’s not really the biggest example of resilience, is it? Going back to school after a year off? Of course being frightened about Covid was incredibly scary and traumatic but the act of going back to school shouldn’t actually be traumatic - if you are indeed resilient.

Jc2001 · 26/02/2024 19:51

Namechangechangeobv · 26/02/2024 19:43

Did you skip the reading the post part? 😂😂😂

I learnt everything I need to know about you from your op.

Well done if you had a bit of a "road to Damascus" moment after that though.

dimllaishebiaith · 26/02/2024 19:53

Tiggermom · 26/02/2024 19:47

Early 70s. During the miners strike and no coal reaching power stations there were rolling blackouts in different areas.
We stayed off school. Had no electricity some days at home. I don’t remember a squeak about special arrangements to catch up with schoolwork/ angry parents/ gov special measures We just missed some school then caught up afterwards.

And in 2022 Gen X were once again the age group with the highest suicide rate in the uk

So maybe not as resilience as the insouciant posts about 70s kids would make out?

Perhaps more support when you were younger would have helped your generation more when the problems showed themselves later?

Ramalangadingdong · 26/02/2024 19:53

Namechangechangeobv · 26/02/2024 19:12

I don’t know how to make myself clearer. The numbers of young people now in behavioural education where I work is TWENTY TIMES what it was 20 years ago. Not to mention the issues elsewhere where I work. It is NOT the usual generational stuff. This is a BIG DEAL and we cannot afford to ignore it.

Yeah, but that's because the resources weren't offered to people, isn't it? I am older and me and some of my peers sometimes talk about how many of the people we were at school with obviously needed help with their mental health. it just wasn't seen as an issue and they were left to get on with it (with disastrous consequences in some cases).

Namechangechangeobv · 26/02/2024 19:53

Jc2001 · 26/02/2024 19:51

I learnt everything I need to know about you from your op.

Well done if you had a bit of a "road to Damascus" moment after that though.

Edited

If you read it then your post makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

OP posts:
dimllaishebiaith · 26/02/2024 19:54

Devonshiregal · 26/02/2024 19:50

Eh? They weren’t in a war. They (the majority obvs) didn’t have cancer treatment. They were at home with some parental stress and Netflix? Not trying to say it was easy - it wasn’t, I was there - but come on that’s not really the biggest example of resilience, is it? Going back to school after a year off? Of course being frightened about Covid was incredibly scary and traumatic but the act of going back to school shouldn’t actually be traumatic - if you are indeed resilient.

but the act of going back to school shouldn’t actually be traumatic - if you are indeed resilient.

I mean you have literally said what I said here...

greengreengrass25 · 26/02/2024 19:55

3smallpups · 26/02/2024 19:40

Personally I think it all comes down to lack of enforcement of boundaries , in the same way that there are so many unruly dogs around !
Some things aren't optional,going to school, leaving your room, eating as a family, doing your home work, going to lectures at uni etc etc. If your whole upbringing has been centred around YOUR feelings and wants and then you go out into the world and have to actually follow some instructions, turn up for work etc, of course it's going to be a horrible shock.

Yes this is definitely part of the problem

It cuts both ways imo

SomeCatFromJapan · 26/02/2024 19:57

@Jc2001 Your posts make no sense. The OP is a professional working with children, she hasn't got her opinions from tik tok.

Moonpiecake · 26/02/2024 19:57

Lavender14 · 26/02/2024 13:32

Also work in behavioural education and tbh I disagree, I see young people every day who are overcoming significant barriers and are still going. It sounds like you've forgotten how hard it is to be a teenager and contend with peer pressure, bullying, hormones, lack of self confidence, figuring out identify. Teenagers are going through a lot, even the well adjusted well supported ones. I think we've created a society where they are better able to express their feelings and fears whereas in years previously that would have been kept silent. None of the issues you've listed are new to this generation I remember going through similar along with my sister when we were teens. And in terms of pronouns, ultimately regardless of where you stand on gender identity, for many young people it's about respect and being seen and having bodily autonomy. Persistent misgendering of someone (again regardless of intent or your stance on gender philosophy) is a sign of disrespect to that person, that's how they will interpret it. Most young people will react to being disrespected and undermined so again, that in itself isn't completely unfathomable. You're asking someone to act like an adult when they haven't even finished with the necessary brain development to do so. I'm really surprised to hear someone in BE talk this way tbh. What we do about it is meet them on their level, invest in and support them and try to build their confidence and self esteem. The rest follows.

Well said.

I agree we are more open about these things. Rightly or wrongly I learned to keep the problems to myself, cried them out and just get own with life the next day.

The internet and amount of information our children and teens get these days has a massive impact; on top of COVID and also adults not coping and not being able to guide them,

PorpoiseWithPurpose · 26/02/2024 20:01

It’s fucking social media and technology that’s the problem.

Iwasafool · 26/02/2024 20:01

Forhecksake · 26/02/2024 13:28

It's hard to understand. I have 2 DD. One now frequently misses school through anxiety and burnout, had lots of therapy, etc. (Previously was top of her class, did lots of after school stuff and had a great friend group.)

The other is still top of her class, involved in clubs, D of E, very proactive. Same upbringing but different outcomes.

It's so hard to tell isn't it. I have my GS living with me, his parents separated when he was 5, he has very little contact with either of them, both seem to have chosen their partners over him. He's done well with his A levels, has his gold DofE and seems to cope with it all really well. I do think he had anger issues when he moved in with us but he has worked through them. I wonder why he is coping and a friend's daughter who has had a much more settled childhood can't seem to cope.

Even harder for you to figure out when it is two sisters, I hope your DD gets better, she has every chance with your support and therapy.

Ramalangadingdong · 26/02/2024 20:02

Reading this thread makes me think that the problem lies with us older people actually. What a bunch of unsympathetic, judgemental people we are. If anyone is entitled it is us - many of us received a free uni education, got the opportunity to buy homes which have doubled or trebled in worth so that we're sitting on goldmines and some of us experienced having a job for life. We've buggered up the climate for them to deal with in the future and then many of us reckon the young are flakey to suggest this is a problem; we've started culture wars that have divided society. We don't care about the most vulnerable in our societies choosing to blame them for their problems. And we spend our days looking askance at and criticising the young. If that's resilience you can keep it. No wonder young people are the way you say they are - they just have to look at us lot to be scared and anxious for their future.

Namechangechangeobv · 26/02/2024 20:04

Ramalangadingdong · 26/02/2024 20:02

Reading this thread makes me think that the problem lies with us older people actually. What a bunch of unsympathetic, judgemental people we are. If anyone is entitled it is us - many of us received a free uni education, got the opportunity to buy homes which have doubled or trebled in worth so that we're sitting on goldmines and some of us experienced having a job for life. We've buggered up the climate for them to deal with in the future and then many of us reckon the young are flakey to suggest this is a problem; we've started culture wars that have divided society. We don't care about the most vulnerable in our societies choosing to blame them for their problems. And we spend our days looking askance at and criticising the young. If that's resilience you can keep it. No wonder young people are the way you say they are - they just have to look at us lot to be scared and anxious for their future.

I think most people here are saying it’s a societal problem and not blaming the young people themselves. I can see a general consensus on that other than a few of the more extreme posters.

OP posts:
samarrange · 26/02/2024 20:05

The kids are alright. The "decline" that people think they are seeing is a combination of changing values — generally for the better (my parents' generation was the last homophobic one, hopefully) — and us all getting older, and thus slightly more jealous every year of the young ones' lack of cares. But rest assured, they will become just as curmudgeonly as us in a mere 30 years.

https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation/

25 Quotes in 2,500 Years Proving We Always Blame the Younger Generation

This is not new.

https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation

Asurvivor · 26/02/2024 20:07

I think the internet and social media has been incredibly harmful to an entire generation - and we haven’t even seen the full effects yet. My DD said recently “you just had the girls at your school, maybe a few girls from other schools that you knew and then some teenagers on tv - I have the whole world to compare myself against”. I really think the generation that grew up with unlimited social media has been damaged in terms of their sense of self and that is why there are so many with anxiety, who are not able to manage school and have low self esteem issues. I wouldn’t let my DD use social media until she was much older if I could go back in time. I don’t think the covid lockdown was the cause, but it did make things much worse.

Thisgroupneverceasestoamazeme · 26/02/2024 20:22

So staff are using the wrong pronouns for CYP on a daily basis? Sounds like a staffing issue to me.

What I’m reading into your post is ‘progress’; times change, things move on and those of us who work with CYP need to move with those times. Resilience is a word that’s often misused and used as a lazy catch all term to avoid having to take responsibility for the shit show that young people have to deal with. True resilience is systemic and comes from children being provided with the scaffolding and support to bounce back from issues they face. It’s not just about them ‘toughening up’.

Carpediemmakeitcount · 26/02/2024 20:25

Pirelli · 26/02/2024 13:39

This is what we get for falling for the biggest crap to ever come out of pedagogical theory - the child-centred approach.

I fought hard against that not my children. All they want to do is turn them into lemon drops.

JellyWellyBoots · 26/02/2024 20:28

moderate · 26/02/2024 13:38

@AgnesX "People talk about it much more freely it seems."

Or, more cynically: people can gain social cachet by labelling themselves as suffering from various mental health disorders.

This!! Someone finally said it.

I think the media have a lot to do with the increasing lack of resilience we see in our society. The rise in MH awareness is a positive move but it isn't without its negatives; people are self diagnosing to the point it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. It's rare I come across anyone who doesn't have some form of MH issue.
Celebrities & 'influencers' openly talk about their MH struggles which yields in people feeling sorry for & empathising with them. So many people are hounding their GP for a diagnosis of some-sort, & for what? So they can tell everyone about it? Use it as an excuse? 'Sorry I can't come to work for the next month because the doctor said I have anxiety'. People use their MH as a comfort blanket which completely ruins it for those who actually are really fucking suffering. Mental health isn't a designer brand you should seek to own. I realise I've gone off topic a bit here but this is what it really boils down to. People just don't TRY anymore because it's been made so easy not to.

platinumplus · 26/02/2024 20:31

Itsbeginingtolookalotlikexmas · 26/02/2024 17:51

My guess is most of the students you see would have been in different provisions previously. Many may have been in SEN settings or in MH facilities. Now those services are cut to nothing you are seeing them.

Yes this. And then that has a knock on effect on all the other students.