To think that Children of the Blitz should be required viewing in these ridiculous times?

[GloiredeDijon]

I watched Children of the Blitz on bbc iplayer and I really think that the swathes of younger people who apparently lack the slightest bit of resilience and who spend their days in a lather of self diagnosis and neurosis need to watch it too.

I am old enough to have had parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles who lived through the war but am aware that we are fast losing this fabulously stoic generation and many of our younger people have alarmingly little knowledge of the history of their country.

Even having heard my mum’s stories about being bombed out, being evacuated, doodlebugs and rationing this wonderful programme was an eye opener.

I genuinely think young people need to hear, in a very human way, about the things their elders lived through and went on to lead productive and happy lives contributing to society rather than expecting the world to run around their perceived needs.

I’m certainly not saying that war is the only problem which warrants feeling anxious, nor that genuinely diagnosed mental health problems don’t need treatment but this programme is a very positive illustration of the ability of humans to overcome and not just survive but thrive.

All the participants in this documentary were fabulous human beings and should be our role models instead some idiot on instagram self diagnosing and crying into the camera for attention.

We aren’t really discussing its content so much as the homily the OP and fern fairy are making of it.

In my experience, it's not the children now who lack resilience, it's their parents and their grandparents. Kids now are pretty smart and savvy and they are seeing where previous generations squandered knowledge and opportunity.

They seem much more keen to learn about history, cause and effect and the things the people who actually came out of the war (not their kids) knew at the time they were learning on their feet due to the great challenges.

I'm proud of this generation. They are rejecting a lot of things that make their parents and grandparents in the way you are describing.

It was a splendid programme but should not be used as a stick to beat the younger generation with - that devalues it.

It brought back memories of my grandparents and made me think hard about what they must have endured. I also kept thinking of my young adult GC and the idea that these conscripted young men were a similar age. The thought of this happening to them is too appalling for words. I suspect that conscription, were it to occur now, would meet with short shrift - young people are more aware of what war means from their history lessons and also of the fact that wars arise at the dictate of flawed political leaders with their own agendas. I do not think young people are any flakier than they ever were - but the internet will have opened their eyes to much that young people were not aware of during the second, and indeed the first, world war.

They’re more likely to be unemployed

Maybe but that has something to do with the lack of ambition on the part of the parents where this applies. I'm referring to the people I know and not the general population. I don't know each, individual person, so not making sweeping statements. But, maybe others have similar circumstances and is something to consider for them.

I watched it and don't agree with this fully.

The woman who was sent away and went mute due to trauma and couldn't speak until 2018 is the example that demonstrates the point.

She needed a diagnosis and appropriate support. The problem now is using this as an excuse not to do anything. That doesn't mean there isn't an underlying problem.

In both cases untreated trauma may exist - it's just it's deal with in a wildly different way.

Don’t they teach WW1 and 2 in history at all ? Covering all aspects ? We were.

I certainly think younger generations should learn about it.

It’s all about the rise of Hitler and Germany. The social history of Britain really doesn’t get included at GCSE or in earlier years of education. You could literally learn just about Nazi Germany and know very little about what the UK was like in the 1930s or 40s.

I fully agree with this, and am really concerned some people on this thread seem to think the main lesson from the Blitz is the benefit of suffering in silence.

Just because people during the Blitz were less vocal about their needs, it doesn’t mean they weren’t suffering. That era was a very different time to now, with much less awareness of mental health or emotional needs (e.g. trauma, SEN…) It wasn’t a good thing.

I want to know more about Jean…who looked after her after her adoptive mother died; did she keep in touch with siblings; where did her dad go…?

People have always been unemployed due to boom and bust cycles in the business system. Have you never hears of the Great Depression? this is exactly what Keynes developed his theories to combat! The British Economy—whether there are jobs or not snd whether the jobs pay a living wage—is not the byproduct of sturdy yeomen who work without businesses or government to employ them. Where do jobs come from? People need to be able to afford goods and services (demand) and companies or organizations have to offer good jobs to fulfill consumer demand.

Brexit snd austerity destroyed markets snd jobs simultaneously. For whom is little Johnnie or Janie supposed to work?

Young people are stuck working in a knowledge economy, for which they or their families go into debt, and those jobs are being replaced by AI, off shored, deskilled, snd underpaid.

I could just as easily start a thread title asking if knowledge of inequality - and the poverty levels of the poorest - should not be common knowledge op.

Get out of your comfy suburban homes and go and see the levels of squalor returning to this country now, along with the inability of work to provide a living.

Yes there are doubtless some people, young and old who need a wake up call and reality check of the kind you describe. There are many others who live with a very hard reality every day. Thats what inequality is.

Actually didn’t realise this was a generational thing, I just thought my mum was a shit mum to be frank. I mean, she wasn’t the worst mum ever but she was (and still is) extremely detached and cold… I could quite honestly tell her I had found the Holy Grail and she’d just say “oh that’s nice” and move on.