When people think teenagers these days are horrible...

I agree.

The teens in my son's marching band are incredible people. Kind, caring, inclusive...a fantastic bunch of kids who will do amazing things in their future.

Plus, as a new college student myself, I am pleased to see the character of most of my classmates.

People see what they want. It's sad that they discredit every teen for the actions of a few.

I agree--I think today's teens are awesome! I volunteer with the high school theatre and I'm amazed at how inclusive the kids are to each other. And when one of them gets a little full of themselves, they just roll their eyes, call the person on their diva behavior, and carry on. I haven't seen a lot of cattiness or exclusiveness.

Even the football team with all those big egos... There were a few that I'd like to kick to the curb, but for the most part they are respectful and always willing to carry stuff around for me. The season has been over for months, but many will still greet me in the halls and give me a big hug. There will always be jerks in the world, but this generation isn't lost.

I think it is like when people complain about the bad teacher/doctor etc those stories seem to carry more weight then the great teacher/doctor/teen stories lol!

Personally for me in my life my teenage boys 3 out of the 4 of them were terrible to live with during their teens and made me want to pull out my hair on a given day, Somewhere along the way we really failed with 3 of them. My hubby and I couldn't ever imagine treating our parents the way they treat us, 2 of them are in their 20's now and our relationship with them is very limited.

I do run across a lot of great teens though just not in my own household haha!

Okay, I was thinking, yep, kids I know are good kids (goofy but good) and happy to agree with you. But the reply this wonderful young lady gave to you was unexpected and actually choked me up. She will go far in life, even if she chooses to not aspire to a successful career etc. She is already ahead of the pack and a success.

As far as this upcoming generation, I have to agree. They seem to be so much more well rounded, empathetic, inclusive and mature in those ways than I remember "us" being. But definately not too "mature" and serious to be enjoying themselves. They have so much fun together and are not afraid to just be themselves,(goofy, crazy, shy, gay, straight, blond, purple haired- whatever) and truly care for one another. At least that is my experience with teens that hang around here. Of course there are troubled teens, as there always has been. But as a whole, I love this upcoming generation.

ETA  I've found myself thinking "wow, I didn't figure that out until 30, 40 or 50" when one of my teens or their friends express something.  It's like they are already ahead of the game in ways. More intuitive?  I often learn from them!

I think the media plays a role here. We all heard ad nauseum about the teen who sued her parents to,pay her college tuition. She was not willing to live in their home, under their rules so she moved into her boyfriends parents home against her parents wishes.

There was little coverage of the Bethlehem NH senior high school kids that gave up their class trip to give the $8,000 to their principal to help with the costs of fighting her cancer battle.

Society tends to focus on the negative.

My 17 yr. old daughter graduated last night. What a great group of kids! She is really going to miss these boys and girls. And my husband and I are so impressed with these kids too.

Every age has the good people and not so nice people. It's definitely not limited to teens.

So far, my kids have been awesome. I really can't complain. They've worked hard in school, volunteered a lot of hours, had jobs and stayed out of trouble. There are a few kids in our neighbourhood who have been terrible. They've had free rein from their parents since the age of 5. Both boys are the same age as my ds and they used to play together but I didn't like what I was seeing at a young age. I started to pull ds away from them and redirect his activities. Both of those boys skip out of school a lot and smoke pot all day while documenting it on Instagram. Both sets of parents know about their conduct and feel that there is nothing that they can do WTH? Both boys have overdosed on pills in the past few months and ended up in the hospital. They are fine but still skip school and hang out with friends and their bongs all day. They are in Grade 9.

Sure my kids get mouthy or bossy at times, but I'll take their moods along with their good behaviour anytime.

We really do need to emphasize the good teens more often.

I'm so glad how thus thread is going. The last one was ridiculous. 2peasrefugees.boards.net/thread/23328/say

sillyrabbit you must be a special mom to be surrounded by special kids.

I said this in the other thread and I'll say it here. I think that kids these days are going to make the world a wonderful place. The kids I see are caring, empathetic, kind, smart go-getters. They'll run the world and take care of it at the same time.

my dd is similar... there was a younger boy in her dance class that was awkward and gooey eyed over her.  she was always nice to him, only boy in the class, younger, etc.  she hadn't seen him in over a year and said "hey, i saw jerrod yesterday.  i gave him a hug. i love that kid".  my momma heart swelled in pride.  she has stepped back from things she has REALLY wanted to do because other kids were being excluded and she did not want to be a part of that.  

perhaps things *seemed* better in the past because when bad things happened, people were much more likely to try to sweep it under the rug for fear of "what the neighbours will think".  frankly, i don't give a flying FIG what my neighbours think of my marriage, my childrearing or anything else.   

i got honours in grade 6 - first and only time. my mom was over the moon and loved that teacher.  my teacher took a text book (hard cover) and slapped me across the face with it when i neglected to complete my homework once.  i was also hit on the top of my head with a metre stick.  another time i missed something, i apologized and said i meant to do it.  she responded with 'THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS!!".  i was 11.  i was not raised religious and had *no* idea what that meant, other than.... for not doing homework i was going to hell.  

yes, there are turkey kids disrupting classrooms and i find it frustrating when i volunteer in the class.  but not for one second do i think that kid deserves to be hit in face with a textbook.  

i recently signed a petition started by 2 girls in grade 8 that wanted "consent" added to the sex ed curriculum for ontario public schools.  they put forth a well thought out and convincing case.  i thought, if this is our future, we are going to be JUST fine!!

anxiousmom lol spoken like a mom in the throes of parenting!

I could say same about mine, only it would switch kids on alternate weeks. They're nice teenagers, going to be excellent adults. Until then, Im keeping the brochures for military schools, just in case.

I taught high school for 35 years. The majority of my students were wonderful. There were a few scattered throughout the years, that I would rather not of had to deal with but by far they were the minority. My last year of teaching I had 160 of the best kids ever!

Sorry but the comments about the latest generation were far worse than my opinion of them. I stand by what I said. Some basically said that this generation is nothing but sex crazed, pregnant, entitled jerks who get every single thing handed to them. But go ahead pointing out how rude "I" am.

I will add that kids are far more entitled now than they were just ten years ago. With that comes an increase in disrespect. That may be just in lass, however. Just yesterday I was told by a student that it is my fault he has a B. If I had given him a copy of the test ahead of time he would have been able to get an A. About a third of the class joined in with opinions on how I should run my class. I shut them down of course, but it would have never happened 10-15 years ago.