to expect people to keep their teenagers under control in the park

[fledtoscotland]

the title says it all really.

I am totally sick of taking my DC aged 1 & 2 to the park to find it vandalised by teenagers.

At the weekend we walked to our nearest to find the baby swing has been broken by teenagers standing in it (they were doing it at the time so I know they were approx 14/15yrs old), glass everywhere, dropping their litter after them. When I walked up to them they ran off so I didn't even get a chance to give them a piece of my mind.

yesterday walked to the other park in the town (further but usually nicer) to find the baby swing again vandalised although this lot had used some imagination and set fire to it , the slide had been spray painted and there was glass round the see-saw.

Just to set the scene, I have two dogs. yes they have both got their Good Citizen certificates from the Kennel club, yes they can be excitable and yes they get tied up if there are any other people at the swing parks (although in my town the parks aren't fenced off so you can take dogs up to the swings.

I would be lynched if I didn't pick up after my dogs or repair any damage they caused yet parents seem to thing that any damage their precious teenagers cause is part of life.

am going to don hard hat now while I'm told that I am totally out of line - at least I feel better now I've got it off my chest

"As my mum would say, years ago teenagers didnt have all this and had to keep themselves amused and didnt resort to trashing things out of boredom!"

Teenagers have ALWAYS trashed things out of boredom and behaved antisocially. Look at Pinkie in Brighton Rock. Look at Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. Or in real history, look at 50s teddy-boys. Look at the mod and rocker wars of the 60s. Look at the punk generation.

Every generation has bemoaned its teenagers and feared that society was going to hell in a handbasket.

The difference was, 50+ years ago children were mostly ignored, or given a clip round the ear by the local policeman, and these days we slap asbos on them and criminalise them.

Perhaps the difference is also 50+ years ago a teenager would respectfully accept a clip round the ear from the local policeman and think themselves lucky that their parents were not told.

Now days, policeman would be told to fuck off and be charged with assault!

Perhaps the difference isn't really there.

There is no difference.

I don't know a single teenager that would tell a policeman to "fuck off'.

There may be a few that would do that out there, just as there would have been a few 50 years ago.

God me neither minty.

Perhaps they all live in DM land.

I seriously doubt that any of the mods and rockers would have respectfully accepted a clip around the ear from a policeman.

According to newspaper reports at the time, they were far more likely to attack them with bike chains and flick knives.

Perhaps the differences is that before the 1950s the 'teenager' wouldn't have existed.

Regardless, I want to agree with all those who've pointed out that it's not 'teenagers' that are the problem but 'bad behaviour', in this case vandalism. Always thinking in terms of identity categories like this is really problematic. It makes no difference what age, race, sex, height, whatever a vandal is; the problem is that they are carrying out acts of vandalism and that is unacceptable.

The whole 'teenagers' thing is really a red herring.

I think they must do. The teenagers I know are all lovely.

x post

well exactly monkeyfeathers.

If a grown man gets into a fight outside a nightclub we don't sit around shaking our heads and going "adults, I don't know... no respect for their youngers"

Somehow if it's a teenager they're supposed to be representative of their entire age bracket.

I think this thread is quite funny juxtaposed with the 'God how boring new mums are' thread. In this one people are queuing up to tell stories about how awful/lazy/ungrateful all teenagers are. In the other the OP is getting a hard time for suggesting that new mums are boring. But in both cases there are lots of changes going on - in both cases the subjects of the thread are getting used to major changes in themselves and in the way the world treats them. But unlike new mums, small children or the elderly, teenagers are just supposed to get on with it with no allowances made or quarter given.

well put theyoungvisitor.

And I totally agree that as a social group teenagers are quite new, a 20thC invention. But it's one that has entered the mindset, usually coupled with a pair of horns and a forked tail

and a hoodie, Orm. Don't forget the hoodie.

and the long floppy hair and a skateboard

Yep! That's m'boy

Youth crime is on the increase in London. Admittedly this could be due to more cases being taken to Court or it could just be that more crimes are being committed.

Take your pick!

Tomorrow my wicked teens are:
Putting in a full day at school
And
Painting themselves yellow for children in need
And
Selling cakes they have made for children in need
And
Working 3 hours in a shop
And taking a music exam
And going out with their friends for a meal
And going to a sleepover AT A POLICEMAN'S HOUSE
(so probably going to give the vandalising a miss for a night).

This is a vast improvement on their (admittedly charming) toddler selves whose main contribution to society went into landfill .

Tomorrow my wicked teen is:

putting in a full day at school
playing violin in the orchestra
busking in a silly wig for children in need

all whilst looking cute in a hoodie and hiding behind her fringe - I think teenagers are cute. I think I am the only one in the world who does

Im not suggesting that it is YOUR teenagers or MY teenagers who are responsible for the increase in crime or that all teenagers are anti social criminals.

but someone's teenagers are. 'im alright Jack' doesnt improve the fact.

no mintycane....i love teenagers too....

i prefer this age group to littlies. they are funny,can be refreshing,and good fun...the minority,just like in any group,can be bad.

op....for your info,in OUR park its the 8/9/10/11 year olds who do the damage....and then later at night its the 20+ group who uase the car park for 'wheeling and dealing'...

its quite common,as i remember from my community policing days!

Yes but the point is that there are people of all ages that can be anti social. There is no need to demonise one age group.

Yes minty of course any age group can commit crime, but 'adult' crime rates remain stable or i think may have even decreased.

Whereas youth offenders increased by 92 per cent from 16,010 in 1997 to 30,683 in 2007.

So perhaps something is going wrong, somewhere.

Of course it 'improves the fact' Claw3. Minty and I are bringing up teens who neither
"respectfully accept a clip round the ear from the local policeman and think themselves lucky that their parents were not told."
nor would be any part of a scenario where a

" policeman would be told to fuck off and be charged with assault!"

Very hard to see where you stand in relation to these quotes from your posts, but surely on the whole we are moving in a positive direction?

The swings should definitely be strong enough to support the weight of a teenager to meet BSEN1176.
It sounds as though your swings are in the middle of an open field with no sign to give an age restriction.So why would you decide they are only for babies to sit in and not teenagers to stand on.