Teens in the press

[torthecatlady]

There's been some really awful things happen in the last few years as reported in the news, particularly involving teenagers. Obviously these incidents would have been upsetting regardless as to whether or not they were committed by teenagers, but I do feel like this is only going to make the older generations sceptical of the younger generation even more so.

The three crimes that come to mind which have been reported recently are the two teenage girls killing a vulnerable woman in her home (2 years ago) and more recently the two teenage girls who kidnapped the little girl in a store and I have just read that two teenagers are being questioned over the murder of a woman and her teenage daughter in their home.

Yesterday, I was at a bus stop when an elderly gentleman became unsteady on his feet and clung to a lamppost to stop himself falling. He seemed to have tripped. Before anyone else could jump to help, two teenage boys grabbed him and steadied him, making sure he was ok. The bus arrived at this moment and the driver got off to help too.

I felt overwhelmed by seeing this and it did move me. It restored my faith in humanity and I would have been very proud if those two boys were my sons.
So much so, I felt the need to share it.

I just wish you'd hear more positive things in the press altogether!

I agree and I started a thread about a similar attitude towards teens recently. i feel they get a raw deal from the majority of society when in fact all the teenagers I know are absolutely lovely and productive members of society.

My DD is 17 and she, plus all her friends, are still in education, going off to university later this year or next year, all work part time jobs, are learning to drive and most have volunteer jobs as well.

The articles in the press do give the impression that teenagers are a nasty species to be scared of. Actually the teenagers of today are the adults of tomorrow who will be our Doctors, nurses, teachers, shop assistants, MPs, cleaners etc. All the people who keep the country going.

Oops Coffee, I didn't see it! I will have to look out for it.
I absolutely, agree with your statement - they really ARE the adults of tomorrow.
I cannot say that all of the teenagers I know are model members of society, but then again neither are all of the adults!

I agree. My DD and her friends are all lovely. Yes have jobs, volunteer, don't cause trouble for anyone, but I suppose that is not newsworthy.

Me too. I was in Birmingham (UK) and a guy had come off his bicycle at about 11pm on a Saturday night, and was instantly surrounded by a group of black teenagers..'oh fuck' I thought and went over to what I thought would be a nightmare situation and one was holding his bike, the others were telling him not to get back on it in case he had a head injury and blow me, if one of them didn't run off to stop buses and beg them to allow the man on with his bike, and taxis too..it was extremely heart warming, and taught me a big lesson about my own assumptions.

These things happened. Should they go unreported because teens don't need any more bad press??

I think we are on the cusp of a moral panic. The media are seeking out stories and highlighting the "teen" factor. I don't think it means that the nation's teenagers are suddenly rampaging around, just that their stories have been come more high profile. Give it a few months and we'll have moved back to immigrants or paedophiles or whatever the hot news story of the week is.

It's terrible

We used to known for our tulip parades but now this is the second murder involving teens in the last couple of years. Warren Free is the other who has been killed by youngsters hands

Floggingmolly Absolutely not, but the press do not print positive stories.

The press see little interest in good news stories.
I work in a secondary school (in a deprived area if that's makes any difference) and our teens daily do things that are kind, helpful and at times humbling.
But I think the "moral panic"is a good description. The media are right to report these stories but the style and witch hunt that will go with it is innapropriate.

Don't worry OP, my thread was a couple of weeks ago, a lifetime on MN! It will be way down in the archives by now :o

I think I started it after DD had gone out with her friend shopping and were out into the evening, not late but about 8pm and were going to McDonalds to eat before getting the bus back. They were told no U-18's allowed in and it was only when DD presented her staff card they were permitted in. She won a free meal on the Monopoly game and passed it onto a homeless man on the way to the bus stop.

They had also been turfed out of a shopping centre by a security guard for 'loitering'. What had happened was her friends bag split on the escalator and when they got to the bottom, moved to one side and decanted everything out of one of DD's bags into another one of hers so her friend could use the other for her stuff. There was no loitering at all and quite clearly were sorting out belongings. I just know that if it had been two middle aged women not a bloody word would have been said.

It's just the assumption that they are all bad that grinds my gears. DD is the recipient of the Phillip Trenched award from the RLSS, normally given to groups such as lifeguards but awarded to her alone when she was 15 for saving a life. She also received a Certificate of Commendation from the National RLSS for the same act.

Last night her friend came over and they were going to go out. But as they had both been working all day were both tucked up asleep by 10.30. DP and I called them lightweights and thought it was highly amusing.

Coffee it sounds like you've got a "good'n" there! I'm always on mumsnet and I missed it!

i read on the bbc website about the poor alcoholic woman who was killed by two teens, and there was speculation that if it hadnt been carried out by teens, it would have been a non story

so I guess the press are publishing more salacious stories regarding teens

DS was in scouts, then cadets.
Who else do you think turns out in large numbers for memorial & St. George parades & services? Smart, well-disciplined, dutiful, respectful.... teens.

yy to the 11 November parades. Both my DD's are in the Rangers and my DP is a veteran and it's always extremely well attended by teens in uniform taking part in the march. I'm always quite overwhelmed with a maternal pride in them all.