TEENAGERS THEN AND NOW!
Birge-Bytes Quote: "Every generation laughs at the old fashions,
but follows religiously the new!" Henry David Thoreau
I am writing about a group of my Favorite People...TEENAGERS!!!!!
Do you have one or more? I have just spent the last 27 years and have been a part of their lives...joys and pain.
There was a 55 year "generation gap" between us at the end but you would never know it....they showed me love, respect and interest. The
next several "posts" will be about the TEENAGER OF TODAY! Do not confuse that with the teenager of your time or especially mine..the 50's.
FIRST FACT: Teenagers didn't even EXIST until after WW11...and were
culture" of music,clothes,speech,etc. Before this, they
worked at home or apprenticed at various jobs.
SECOND FACT: Your teens need you NOW as much as or MORE than they did earlier when you were mainly doing "maintenance" on them.
THIRD FACT: They are NOT DONE YET!!!!! It is like a Masterpiece in Progress. Until recently with the development of the miraculous MRI machine we thought brain-wise they were "ready to go" at age 6. We NOW know that the brain does not finish "hard-wiring" itself until Mid-Twenties or Later?!! Egads.
O.K. ARE YOU READY??! LET'S COMPARE!!
TECHNOLOGY: US: network t.v., radio and phone
NOW: Cable & Satellite t.v.,Every Movie and Song
available, Computers with the "Superhighway",Chat
Rooms,Instant Messaging and more as you read this.
They use the Internet an average of 8.5 hrs.plus a
week and Homework only 1.8 hrs. at home,if any!
KNOWLEDGE & EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE:
THEN: Highly regulated and minimal.
NOW: The Homicide rate for adults have remained
pretty stead over the last 30 years...Teen violence
has risen steadily since the 80's...up 168%. Of all
Homicides over 25% are committed by under 21 year
olds. 53% of today's Teens say the Media and Movies
sends the "wrong message" to OTHER Teens. 65% of
Teens say they DO INFLUENCE their outlook on life.
FRAGMENTED FAMILY:
THEN: The concept of Nuclear Family.
NOW: Do NOT get me wrong here...Single Parenting
can be very effective with love and care but 8 out of 10
families it is the FATHER that is absent. The Extended
Family has extended ever further apart; Support of
Healthy Neighborhoods, Churches, Community groups
have weakened or GONE and it is truly "Home Alone".
KNOWLEDGE & EXPOSURE TO SEXUALITY:
THEN: In the early 60's Teens rebelled against the
Rules but "felt guilty" about it!
NOW: Very few "sexual rules"... Media and Movies
equate sex with love and as an almost expected part
of the dating scene. It is now a "double-edged" sword
for many teens...If you DON'T.. "What is WRONG with
you?!" and if you DO ...YOU FEEL ABUSED,USED
AND EMPTY! I did not have to struggle with that in
High School, 1959. It was Easier then to NOT go along
Living together before marriage, having children with
or without a Partner has lost its Stigma..treating teen
girls with the respect and care I had dating is..........?
NEUTRAL MORAL & RELIGIOUS VALUES:
For the first time in American history teens are grow-
up without certain moral values...they are seen as
"neutral"...."If it feels good....do it!" In a recent
survey...91% said "what is right for one might not be
right for another person or situation". 80% said
"morals and ethics" is different for different people
and 57% of teens said lying is sometimes necessary.
It has become a huge "gray" area of vagueness.
BUILDER'S GENERATION( BEFORE 1946)
BOOMER'S GENERATION(their children)
BUSTER'S GENERATION(their children) withdrew in vast numbers from
Churches
THE BOOMER'S AND THE BUSTER'S KNEW THEIR PARENTS &
GRANDPARENTS MORALITY AS "THEORY" RATHER THAN PRACTICE!
THE BRIDGER'S GENERATION(born after 1977) who are "fuzzy" at best about right and wrong...no clear standards and mostly amoral.
Do you now see WHY your job as PARENTS are so vital to your children? Hardest job on Earth but if done well, is incredibly rewarding
later when they thank you instead of curse you.
Some NEW terms for the Twenty-First Century
(some true...some not....you figure it out!)
(1)"Hipititis" : Terminal coolness.
(2) "Ego-Surfing": Scanning databases, the Net, Print media for your name.
(3) "Dopeler Effect": The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly!
(4)"Beepilepsy": The brief seizure some people have when their beeper goes off in vibrator mode.
(5)"Mouse Potato": The online, wired generations answer to the Couch-Potato!
Next post is on the TEENAGE BRAIN and why you should really appreciate your children as they are NOW and not what you want them to become at this time.
but follows religiously the new!" Henry David Thoreau
I am writing about a group of my Favorite People...TEENAGERS!!!!!
Do you have one or more? I have just spent the last 27 years and have been a part of their lives...joys and pain.
There was a 55 year "generation gap" between us at the end but you would never know it....they showed me love, respect and interest. The
next several "posts" will be about the TEENAGER OF TODAY! Do not confuse that with the teenager of your time or especially mine..the 50's.
FIRST FACT: Teenagers didn't even EXIST until after WW11...and were
called "Tween-Agers" at first forming their own "sub-
culture" of music,clothes,speech,etc. Before this, they
worked at home or apprenticed at various jobs.
SECOND FACT: Your teens need you NOW as much as or MORE than they did earlier when you were mainly doing "maintenance" on them.
THIRD FACT: They are NOT DONE YET!!!!! It is like a Masterpiece in Progress. Until recently with the development of the miraculous MRI machine we thought brain-wise they were "ready to go" at age 6. We NOW know that the brain does not finish "hard-wiring" itself until Mid-Twenties or Later?!! Egads.
O.K. ARE YOU READY??! LET'S COMPARE!!
TECHNOLOGY: US: network t.v., radio and phone
NOW: Cable & Satellite t.v.,Every Movie and Song
available, Computers with the "Superhighway",Chat
Rooms,Instant Messaging and more as you read this.
They use the Internet an average of 8.5 hrs.plus a
week and Homework only 1.8 hrs. at home,if any!
KNOWLEDGE & EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE:
THEN: Highly regulated and minimal.
NOW: The Homicide rate for adults have remained
pretty stead over the last 30 years...Teen violence
has risen steadily since the 80's...up 168%. Of all
Homicides over 25% are committed by under 21 year
olds. 53% of today's Teens say the Media and Movies
sends the "wrong message" to OTHER Teens. 65% of
Teens say they DO INFLUENCE their outlook on life.
FRAGMENTED FAMILY:
THEN: The concept of Nuclear Family.
NOW: Do NOT get me wrong here...Single Parenting
can be very effective with love and care but 8 out of 10
families it is the FATHER that is absent. The Extended
Family has extended ever further apart; Support of
Healthy Neighborhoods, Churches, Community groups
have weakened or GONE and it is truly "Home Alone".
KNOWLEDGE & EXPOSURE TO SEXUALITY:
THEN: In the early 60's Teens rebelled against the
Rules but "felt guilty" about it!
NOW: Very few "sexual rules"... Media and Movies
equate sex with love and as an almost expected part
of the dating scene. It is now a "double-edged" sword
for many teens...If you DON'T.. "What is WRONG with
you?!" and if you DO ...YOU FEEL ABUSED,USED
AND EMPTY! I did not have to struggle with that in
High School, 1959. It was Easier then to NOT go along
Living together before marriage, having children with
or without a Partner has lost its Stigma..treating teen
girls with the respect and care I had dating is..........?
NEUTRAL MORAL & RELIGIOUS VALUES:
For the first time in American history teens are grow-
up without certain moral values...they are seen as
"neutral"...."If it feels good....do it!" In a recent
survey...91% said "what is right for one might not be
right for another person or situation". 80% said
"morals and ethics" is different for different people
and 57% of teens said lying is sometimes necessary.
It has become a huge "gray" area of vagueness.
BUILDER'S GENERATION( BEFORE 1946)
BOOMER'S GENERATION(their children)
BUSTER'S GENERATION(their children) withdrew in vast numbers from
Churches
THE BOOMER'S AND THE BUSTER'S KNEW THEIR PARENTS &
GRANDPARENTS MORALITY AS "THEORY" RATHER THAN PRACTICE!
THE BRIDGER'S GENERATION(born after 1977) who are "fuzzy" at best about right and wrong...no clear standards and mostly amoral.
Do you now see WHY your job as PARENTS are so vital to your children? Hardest job on Earth but if done well, is incredibly rewarding
later when they thank you instead of curse you.
Some NEW terms for the Twenty-First Century
(some true...some not....you figure it out!)
(1)"Hipititis" : Terminal coolness.
(2) "Ego-Surfing": Scanning databases, the Net, Print media for your name.
(3) "Dopeler Effect": The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly!
(4)"Beepilepsy": The brief seizure some people have when their beeper goes off in vibrator mode.
(5)"Mouse Potato": The online, wired generations answer to the Couch-Potato!
Next post is on the TEENAGE BRAIN and why you should really appreciate your children as they are NOW and not what you want them to become at this time.
