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

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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?

At times obedience is needed.

Yes kids with Sen, ignore your distress, obedience is needed! Exactly

Thank you for articulating this so well. As a teacher, I see this every day

The thing that surprises me is their sense of helplessness, or even resentment. Young adults are the ones who will change the future - there seems to be little recognition of that, where fear and hard times galvanised previous generations. In less-well-off places, they still do!

I think this is rather unfair for older generations who have effed up the planet to say it’s the younger ones job to sort or all out. The truth is we are now pretty helpless to climate change. Obviously young people are going to feel resentful!
Now young people have not only the threat of nuclear war and the effects of climate change, but many more day to day problems. At least in the 70s if you worked hard- ish you could afford a home, a life, and family. Thats unattainable to so many people now, so in a way why would they bother? I know young people starting out careers on pretty decent salaries that are had to fight for the privilege of paying £1000 per month to rent one damp room. They can’t afford to live without top ups from mummy and daddy. It’s not surprising they don’t have great independence or resilience. And these are the ones that have managed to get through uni successfully.

There will be few jobs.if any.except for elite skills.when is the penny going to drop?

OP what is behavioural education? Are you a psychologist? Never heard the term before.

This! Thank Goodness for people like you.

@campamshamalam is on the right lines I think. We adults are all having to do so much in our ordinary everyday lives. Working, children have to go to sports and dance in other places because the school no longer provides. Parking to deliver a child to dance class or gym more is difficult because of anti car policies from councils.
Pets are prioritised than they used to be, more pressure on time and finance. But difficult to refuse.

Yes the government has cut funding, but who among us can afford to pay more tax?
We want to manage our time better so that we spend time teaching our DC about being an adult but we are all so tired.

At least in the 70s if you worked hard- ish you could afford a home, a life, and family.

Unemployment was 4%, roughly the same as now. I was doing intermittent temp jobs, as couldn't find a permanent one. I did office and bar work, so usually had something and sometimes worked two jobs. I certainly wasn't pleading anxiety or similar to get out of work - I had rent to pay and food to buy! And, yes, the rent was on crappy rooms.

I'm not sure why you think growing up surrounded by actual bomb sites, not being able to swim in rivers or the sea due to pollution, breathing industrial chemicals and having terrorist bombs going off in pubs and train stations makes for an idyllic lifestyle.

You know who fixed all those things (more or less)? The people who grew up with them.

A part of an age group is not representative of an entire generation.

But older people complaining about the young is not exactly new either.

The world has hugely changed since I was a teenager 20 years ago.

Climate change is here - not just an abstract concept and the worst is yet to come. That's terrifying for young people.

Wars, pandemics, Donald trump. 24/7 news coverage of it all

Social media and the Internet has changed how we communicate- more superficial communication, constant compaisons to hindreds of other people (a very edited version of them) less quality 1:1 time. Less need to interact with other humans, leave the comfort of home. Less downtime to sit and think and be bored.

Societies view of children. The community spirit isn't there. My eldest daughter is 9yo - at her age I had the freedom to go out on my bike for the day to he park, the shops, walking to school by myself. I would like to let my 9yo have this freedom but its not socially acceptable anymore, so we baby and overschedule kids.

We've lived through several financial crisis and now cost of living rocketing with wages stagnating. Life feels unaffordable. Both parents are require to work and are stressed out as a result. I had 8 emails from school today ( for 2 children) it seems to never end- as well as working full time in a stressful job. Im a carer for my parent too. There's no give in the system. Jobs ensure they get thier pound of flesh from you.

Slashing of public services across the board and the policies are hitting home - social services, surestart, nhs, education.

Secondaries schools seem cold and punative places these days. I went to a rough school but it was warm and welcoming. I deal with lots of schools with my job and they honestly seem so one Size fits all.

All of it takes it toll....

Well I can say in 18 years I can guarantee I have never had anyone film anything in my room. My school would absolutely not tolerate it. If children never experience the feeling of anxiety how on earth will they mange it as an adult? I had a job interview a while ago and I felt anxious, but this is a completely normal feeling that I coped with. Children need to learn how to manage in uncomfortable situations. That is just not real life.

The thing is, you are assuming the future of workplaces is identical to current workplaces. We are having to adapt our practices for the new graduates because they don't have the same work ethic. I am very jealous of them. I feel tied to my job, constantly burning out from running a home, parenting, working full time, trying to give everyone 100% of me and still feeling like a failure. I think the new generation knows their worth. They know life is more than working and want people to adapt to them. I remain optimistic that the new generation will bring with them better employee rights, better work-life balance and more care and attention to MH.

The thing is, every generation thinks the generation below them is somehow inadequate. Yet the world keeps turning, older generations (the supposed superior ones) die out, and their values with them, and we continue to progress.

But whichever way you look at it it’s undeniable that it’s much harder to buy property now. The increase has outstripped wages by so much. Property = security = something to work and strive for. I’m not saying life was idyllic then but things haven’t really improved that much for young people yet there’s this assumption that they have. And to be fair all our rivers and sea are still terribly polluted. No generation has lived with a threat anywhere as massive as climate change really. Obviously nuclear war but that was uncertain where as climate change is a very real certainty. When I think about it I get into a real panic and I’ll probably be dead by the time the shit really hits the fan.

It's social media and smartphones

The cancer of humamity

The previous generation to ours said the same and we all mostly survived ! This generation will grow up and learn

No they really don't, they laugh at me trying to encourage them to recycle their endless plastic bottles

I know recycling isn't the be all and end all

Yes.

My oldest (age 15, being assessed for ASC) got into a pickle recently when she got the bus into town on her own, missed the bus then had a panic about it as the next bus wasn't for an hour, by which point it was then getting on for 9PM in the city centre.

I couldn't collect her as I didn't have the car, so spoke to her on the phone, she got tearful and then a bunch of much older teens who she didn't know laughed and filmed her crying in McDonalds.

I got into all sorts of scrapes at 15 but didn't have randoms filming it and broadcasting it on instagram.

I agree that the usual view of jobs & careers is already outdated. Has been for a long time. I also think the obsession with property ownership is a huge con, it's a convenient way for governments to get people to take on massive debts to boost the economy figures. It isn't security.

Younger adults should be working towards greater social housing provision and probably new ways to fund it. They should be addressing the erosion of 'wages' and 'jobs' because these are never coming back. A radical revision of economic models is long overdue, and upcoming minds are the ones to do it before it's too late. If anyone's going to alter the climate trajectory, it will be their generation. They need to get China, the US and India on board as well. There will be mass migration issues to deal with.

None of this can be achieved by people who melt into a puddle of tears if asked to do something difficult, or who storm out of rooms when someone disagrees with them, even inadvertently.

I got into all sorts of scrapes at 15 but didn't have randoms filming it and broadcasting it on instagram.

OK, but resilience includes being able to handle embarrassment or ridicule. I'm sure you faced some of that - I certainly did!

I hate the contempt for children/teens etc on Mumsnet. No one even bothers to attempt to disguise it, it's worn like a badge of honour.

You implied it was a big show of resilience. I think standards of what resilience is have slipped massively

This really

@waterdusky "The thing is, every generation thinks the generation below them is somehow inadequate. Yet the world keeps turning, older generations (the supposed superior ones) die out, and their values with them, and we continue to progress."

The world will keep turning, but climate change is soon going to result in a very brave new world, with half the planet uninhabitable and unable to produce crops to feed the global population. Insect populations vital to human life are dying. There will be mass migration, and wars. It's not going to be pretty.

I've read the entire thread now. I think MY generation's (60+) BIG mistake was not drumming it into those who are now 30+ that changes from which they benefited were hard-won. This goes for everything from social security systems and universal health provision to feminism and indoor bathrooms!

If you took all that for granted, as just "how things are", you will have an overly rosy view of life so, naturally, you would not have seen a need to instil your own children with the qualities needed to make change in the world. You might be shocked and disappointed when you found unfairness and difficulty, so perhaps you'd teach your children to rail against it without taking responsibility.

Obviously not all Gen Z and Alpha are incompetent wusses. I just hope (for their sakes, I'll be dead) the pro-active ones can gee up their peers.