To think that our young people are actually ace

[FunnysInLaJardin]

We have a 15 yo work experience lad at work and he is polite, interested and intelligent. We also have a new graduate who is equally as wonderful. Just really hard working, respectful and willing to learn.

My teen boys are so similar that I just don’t get all of the criticism of young people.

From what I have seen they are great

Same as has ever been throughout history.
There are loads of fantastic young people and sadly, there are always some that are not.

They’re so much more sensible than my generation was, and they have lovely manners.

Absolutely praise my teens about how fantastic their generation is. They embrace everyone’s differences, even compared to when I was a teen- people would be using “gay” as a slur or in a jokey manner, racism seems to be experienced less in teens than adults in my community.
They are so much more focused on mental health.
They really seemed to have changed the world for the better.

I have managed Uni interns for over 10 years… I’ve had great ones and I’ve had duds. There’s nothing special or unique about this age group vs the others. Great kids will do great things and duds will be duds.

This is so refreshing to read.

All of the teens I know personally right now are polite, well-mannered, have ambition and are committed, and I think it's brilliant x

I agree op. I find the young people I meet very earnest, hard working and well intentioned. They are a joy. I’m sure there are lots that aren’t so much, but there will be a reason and a back story to that.

My teens are fantastic. They work hard, they are polite, they have a great sense of humour and I love spending time with them. I really like their friends too, all polite and friendly.

I have a teen and a pre teen boy and both are lovely as well! They’re hard working, the older one (13) works in the holidays at a sports camp for younger kids, the younger one can’t wait to join in. Their friends are funny and polite and when I spy on my younger kids messages on his phone they’re respectful and generally fine. Seeing messages about one friend saying that another girl is a lesbian and other kids going “so wut - u a homophobe???” was heartening for the message, if not the spelling.

I agree, most of them are lovely. I've had many a work experience kid under my watch and with a couple of exceptions (a boy and a girl from the same family of overindulged, utterly spoilt teens who I'd never employ) they've been great.

This! I often comment to my clients how my generation were big drinkers and smokers-my kids are all into education, going to the gym and eating well. They are lovely, as are their friends.

I have a ds who is equally lovely. Hard working, kind, intelligent. 🙂

But there is also the nasty drug dealing little toad from the next village with his black Audi that he drives at 70mph on our single track village road, throwing rubbish out of the windows and jeopardising everyone in his way.

Every age group has good and not so good.

We have a 16 year old lad who comes to our Community Choir. Keep in mind the main demographic of our choir is women over 50. He’s fabulous.
Kind, funny, clever, he is honestly everything that is great about 16 year old lads. We all adore him, secretly I think he loves us all too, knows everyones names (there are over 100 of us), gets stuck in with helping everyone and really is a huge part of the Choir.

Agreed!

I hire a lot of young people and they are generally great.

I find a lot of the complaining about them comes from people who have no exposure to them.

Absolutely.

I work with 300 of them a week and have done since 1994 and I can count on one hand the ones who weren't decent kids then, and aren't decent adults now.

This is MN so presumably posters found their way here because they wanted help/support/advice about being the best parent possible? As a result their children have benefited from their care and are growing into decent adults.
Unfortunately there is a growing underclass of parents who don’t actually give a shit about their children and we all see the effects of their lack of interest. Knife crime anyone?

Oh I agree completely!
I guess some people just don't want to see it.
I am so glad that we have a new wave of emotionally intelligent, inclusive, and socially aware adults in the making.
As a pp said, they are a joy.