AIBU to think we are currently raising the most dull generation yet??

[Rosaofthevalley]

I have my own children who thankfully have a wide range of interests but they are increasingly finding it harder to actually communicate with other kids. I understand we all have different interests but I actually don’t know how to guide them through this.

I’m around a wide range of kids, schools, clubs, long term friends children, newer ones etc and it seems that an alarming amount of them have NO interests, like zero! Conversations usually revolve around phones, YouTube, TikTok, video games but they have no real world interests. This is if they look up long enough to hold a conversation with each other.

As a millennial myself I think as a generation we are seriously failing our kids. There are so many more behavioural issues, concentration and communication are at an all time low.
My friends who are still in teaching are pulling their hair out at the amount of crowd control needed on top of teaching (I left teaching 10yrs ago and definitely saw the start of a decline but nothing like now.)

I think they’re bored, but without the skills or imagination needed to combat boredom. Surely I can’t be the only one who thinks this??

I see the opposite. Kids (inc my own ) so over scheduled and trying to cram sports, music, homework and socialising in

It’s worrying. When we go to the supermarket or to a cafe, my three year old is the only person his age going about looking at things, making conversation. The rest are on devices. Their necks are craned & they don’t interact at all.

I'm not so sure. I have a teenager and a 9 year old and they both do a competitive sport, love making things and drawing, the older one volunteers and the younger one gets a lot out of cubs (which I think is great for sparking interest in all sort of things). Lots of their friends have loads to say for themselves on all sorts of things. I feel like they get way more out of school than I did.

They both Minecraft though and the younger one likes Roblox. Honestly it has given him some common ground to talk about with his friends, where he really struggled with shyness before. (He hates football so can't have that as a fallback topic of conversation!)

Where are you shopping? In an episode of Black Mirror?!

That’s what I was thinking 😂. And I love that every single MN poster is apparently the only person who has a child who is the exception to the rule.
Most kids I know (and I have 3, so I know quite a lot) have loads of hobbies/extra curriculars. Too many, in some instances. My children and their friends all seem to be able to talk about a decent range of subjects. Mine don’t actually own phones/tablets although I know some of their friends do.

I'm in my 50's and find women my generation dull as fuck.

All they seem to want to do is drink and watch tv/the internet every night.

I have my own children who thankfully have a wide range of interests but they are increasingly finding it harder to actually communicate with other kids.. Honestly @Rosaofthevalley we all find our own children interesting and other peoples less so. You’re being a bit silly.

Same. Many of my friends’ children are in some type of sport or sports, art, music, dance, Scouts, etc because many of us were in such things as children. Some sports take up a lot of time with practices, meets, games, tournaments, etc.

😂😂😂

Primary school children aren’t supposed to write poetry and spend their free time discussing the state of the economy. This generation will define itself in due time, just like every generation before this one did.

Most kids I come across are hobbied-out.

Though if we want to encourage interesting and free-thinking children, one way to do it would be seriously to rethink our approach to KS1 education.

Schools give kids a gloriously free and relaxed reception year (well, many do) and then nobble them in Y1 with a curriculum with most of the space and joy sucked out of it.

And then it just gets worse from then on. Until secondary school where they're not even permitted to use the toilet when they need.

If children are constantly stressed and anxious, they don't have a lot of scope to be "interesting". Many children are surviving not flourishing atm.

I definitely think young people have lost some of their spark, they all just seem to drip about in grey or beige north face clothing and talking about their MH struggles and pronouns.

What?

My town has choirs, sports clubs, yoga classes, a gardening club, outdoor swimming clubs, a synchronised swimming club, a band, belly dancing club, WI, skittles and darts teams, Slimming World, art classes, a carnival committee, amateur dramatics, allotments, an In Bloom group, two churches, book clubs all completely full to bursting with women between 40 and 60 having full lives and happy times.

Also, every club or organisation which has volunteers from the youth club to the National Trust to charity shops are absolutely rammed with women in their 50s.

Perhaps it's you not them.

Besides which, other children don't exist to provide @Rosaofthevalley's with interesting and stimulating conversation 😂.

Same

YANBU at all, OP.

We are raising a generation who spent 2 of their formative years locked at home with their only way of being able to communicate with the rest of the world being via social media and gaming, that’s the difference.

I mean, there are loads of dull as fuck adults around so I assume they were once dull children, too.

Would also second this - I meet far more alarmingly ‘thick’ adults than I do children! All of the teenagers that I know are incredibly articulate and educated on the changing world around them, I can’t say the same for most adults

So they have a bit of a uniform like most young people do?

It was pretty much jeans and a t-shirt when I was in school. Doesn’t look that much different from what I see in my area. They are in ridiculous uniforms all day and unsurprisingly get into more comfortable, practical clothes when they get home from school.

Yea but it’s the most depressing one yet, no colour just grey, beige and black

This is Generation iPad / tablet / screen / TikTok who have spent far longer on devices during formative years than other generations - all they know is synthetic interactions. You can really tell the kids who have lazy parents and those who have been encouraged to do more activities that don’t revolve around a screen.

I see the opposite. Kids (inc my own ) so over scheduled and trying to cram sports, music, homework and socialising in

I don't think that's the issue.

The real issue is that very young children are not given time for playing by themselves. There is very little encouragement for imaginary play or interaction with parents.

The only way they seem to entertain themselves is with a screen. Even interactive games have a set format and very limited vocabulary.

Add to that, small children glued to a screen when out and about- especially shopping.* Or the parents are glued to a screen at the playground...
I think some children will be developmentally behind because of this.

The first 3-4 years are soo important in terms of developing speach, independence and physical abilities.

A lot is missed, but I don't think it's impossible for children to catch up in the right environment.

• don't get me wrong, I would have loved a screen for my DC... DD used to grab any item of clothing within reach and DS was the screeming toddler in the supermarket trolley! (We are talking afes up to about 3.5 years.)

It’s another trend that will be something else soon enough.

My niece, 14 never reads books. Both her Mum and me were avid readers when we were growing up and we were always in and out of the village library.

I put it down to my sister making sure they go or do or visit somewhere every weekend and extra curricular activities nearly every day after school. My niece has no chance to make her own amusement. When she's old enough to go out with friends my sister is going to either be at a loss as she doesn't have any hobbies of her own, visit her friends more often or bother with me a bit more.