People who suggest youth clubs help with boredom are clueless

[nfg]

Every time on the local FB Spotted pages, someone posts a photo of something vandalised by the delightful teens, there are people who say “bring back youth clubs”.

Youth clubs are crap. When I was at the age range for them, they only had a pool table, table tennis table - that’s it. Then because of them being crap, turnout dwindled and subsequently closed.

I think these people who suggest youth clubs are the answer to the boredom problem, they are clueless. Besides those who do this vandalism are not the type that go to YCs. I have replied that YCs don’t work

@JeremiahBullfrog but when Youth Clubs do exist why do so many teens not actually go to them? Instead they seem to prefer to hang around the local park/shops/streets etc.
In my home town on one of the estates they have the typical problem of teens doing vandalism, graffiti,shop lifting, hooning around on electric scooters etc.
They also have a Youth Club.
Why aren't these "bored" teens going ?

There is a fabulous youth club near me. The building is just a building but they do all sorts of activities and get involved in the local community. Keeping the kids busy is great and it’s drop in, free, and requires no parental involvement. Many teenagers don’t have a parent to book them into and pay for scouts or similar so there’s a massive gap for young people.

The youth club where I lived was a revelation as a 15 year old. It was an old rambling school, with as you say, table tennis, darts, pool, also a soft drink bar and snacks, loud pop music, exotic teenagers the like I'd never seen, dressed outrageously, and with wild haircuts, it was dimly lit and crowded, maybe a local band practising somewhere. It seemed really dangerous and enticing to the inexperienced and young for her age me. But it kept us off the streets and out of real trouble, there were youth workers lurking somewhere watching for things getting out of hand, but they were pretty inconspicuous unless you searched them out.

Because the youth clubs are also pretty boring for a lot of teens, sadly.

That's my point.
If they wanted organised activities they'd go.
They don't want to.

My daughter goes to an amazing youth club. There's arts, crafts, baking, all kinds of sports, a gym, a games room with PlayStation etc. It's completely free. There's different sessions for kids under 13 and over 13. The youth workers are all amazing.

Yes, I said upthread I wasn't a bad kid, did well at school, etc, and the activities offered were boring to me, and also boring to the "problem" kids. It was a very narrow group of kids who'd be interested. So, it's pointless bringing them back unless they have a radical change. Of course, some kids will never find them cool or interesting no matter what's offered.

They used to be more like a disorganised party night in my day, now they seem to be bored teenagers standing around in brightly lit rooms, being organised into 'doing something' by well meaning adults.

Well if the op has great ideas on how to run them they can start one themselves

the other issue society seems to forget these days is that there are many ways people can occupy themselves.

however there will always be some that want to rebel against society, do drugs, drink, and want to be a wanna be hard person etc and its those that will always be breaking and vandalising things

so you could roll out the red carpet of entertainment but arseholes will still be arseholes

That's what they were like in my time - attempts at organised fun - but they didn't work because we just wanted to hang out and shoot the breeze with our friends, and adults' ideas of what we might enjoy were wide off the mark, to say the least.

I have known of different types of youth clubs start up - and they all eventually seem to fizzle quickly out as no one attends.
They vary from the casual drop in to highly organised.
The "bored" (ie trouble making teens) just aren't interested. That's the OPs point.
It doesn't matter how many fantastic ideas people come up with.

My daughter goes to a brilliant local youth club. They are taught cooking, taken on day trips (she did 4 over the Easter hols) arts and crafts, singing, movies, dancing, they have guest speakers that came and talk to them. It’s brilliant, and free! She loves it and it’s done wonders for her confidence

@youcannaecallherfanny out of curiosity how is the club funded?
Is it council or charity?

The youth club in our large village, think nearly town size, is heaving, they've had a huge recruitment drive for volunteers and are open every week night. This is in addition to scouts, guides etc, football clubs and velo club and more I'm sure

I think it must vary depending where you live as I'm very keyed-in to youth justice and there is nothing like that in my city.

In fact where there are not youth clubs but mentoring groups or activities etc, there's careful consideration given to who is involved due to trying to keep certain children apart and risk assessments done.

Also nothing in my city about 'at risk' of offending children being referred to a youth justice worker by youth club workers.

Children where I live referred to youth justice support workers have already committed an offence which was diverted away from court with the hope that intervention at that stage will prevent further offending.

There's no mechanism for children who might offend to get support from the youth justice system because that's exactly what we want to prevent - contact with the youth justice system.

You have general youth clubs where you live where young offenders go and meet up with youth justice workers while other kids not involved with the criminal justice system are just playing pool or whatever?

How is that being risk assessed and is it known to the other kids/parents that they're attending a club which is being used to facilitate meetings between young offenders and their workers?

I loved my local youth club and especially library. I was a little shit when I was teen too. But still loved having somewhere to go ! The library was my safe space and the youth club was where me and my friends all met up to stay out of the cold/away from trouble. Loved it.

Youth clubs aren't necessarily supposed to be organised as such, they should be a place for kids to hang out and do all or some of the activities on offer. A darts board, pool , table tennis, board games can all be done without being organised by adults. A place to sit and chat with a drink and a snack, maybe an outside space if there is one.
Organised activities like craft and baking can be offered alongside the rest as well.

So because one youth club is crap, they all are?

Both. They get premises from council for use for free but are a registered charity. They do a lot of fundraising.

My kids who are 6 &9 go to our local youth club and it’s fantastic! They do pizza parties, silent discos, day trips in half term to the local trampoline park, aswell as Lego building competitions, cupcake decorating there’s so much for them to do. Not only that it has brought on my painfully shy 6 year old on so much

@youcannaecallherfanny it does sound good.
Unfortunately though I think the OP is right - however amazing a Youth Club is the teens that are out setting fire to swings at the park or spraying graffiti all over local walls just simply won't be the ones going.
It's ridiculously hard for under 16s to get part time jobs these days (so much red tape) Many of my generation (teen in late 80s/early 90s) had part time jobs from 14 or 15. That stopped much boredom and you got paid for it.
A part time job that brings you £££ is probably more appealing to a bored teen.

https://www.kjr-m.de/freizeiteinrichtungen/?_sfm_location_age_start=0+99&sf_paged=3
people need to expect and demand more from their government and local authorities. And not always say but where does the money come from. The link is a list of all the „youth clubs“ on offer in Munich. All free to access, all open for children / young adults from 6 to 20/21. all offering varying activities, day trips, afternoon activities, days for girls, days for boys, a safe place to meet up with friends away from home, indoor space, outdoor space. 5 pages of addresses. The organisation that runs them operates throughout Germany, was set up after the Second World War with the idea that young people needed a space to meet where they would not be politically radicalised. Freedom of speech, ideals of democracy, children’s rights and freedom of personal development very much at the core. It is a case of being willing to invest in youth, being willing to invest in something where the benefit is not immediately tangible but will hopefully have a long- term beneficial influence on the whole of society.

I think youth clubs don’t really exist as it’s hard to get volunteers not because they are crap.
I’m a volunteer leader in girl guiding with massive wait lists as we struggle to get adult volunteers (we all work ft too) it’s apparently a huge issue post pandemic. People don’t want to volunteer.

It sounds like your youth club was crap. I think you have kissed the point. There are some awesome youth clubs in London that give kids a whole host of important life experiences including free trips to places the kids would likely never get to go.