Kids today face age-old problems
I keep hearing the statement that it would stun us to know what our kids are facing in the world today. However, contrary to popular opinion, I think it?s about the same thing kids have faced for three decades now except now they?re just less prepared to face the issues because their parents are irresponsible and never grew up themselves.
Drugs? So you think drugs just appeared in the last five years? Folks, Warren County used to be the marijuana capital of the Midsouth when I was growing up, prior to the helicopters and undercover operations. I?m 41 right now to give you some idea of the time frame I?m talking about.
There was dope growing literally in the fields around the old high school. This was before Nancy Reagan told us to ?Just Say No,? a lot of difference that made. There was plenty of experimentation going on in the late 1970s and early 1980s, all an offshoot of the drug movement of the 1960s.
And yes, there was cocaine and even acid. And, although meth wasn?t real big back then, amphetamines themselves were all the rage at the high school and could be bought on campus if you had the connections. The kids who were doing dope back then are the parents of the kids who are doing it today. The nut never falls far from the tree.
How about sex? Now that?s a hoot. Folks have been having sex out of wedlock since time began. To say that kids are facing a greater pressure for sex than they did 20 years ago is crazy. Just look at the teen pregnancy levels back then and now. Actually, they are lower given programs going on in our schools.
Frankly, the only thing I can see that?s changed in the past 30 years that has a big impact on our kids is the age of the Internet and computers, with a freer flow of information at their fingertips.
Violence on TV? Please. I was watching the white man slaughter Indians on black and white TV before the person who created CSI was even born. And then the guy who killed those ?savages? was considered a hero. How messed up is that?
Violence at school? Hey, there was a fist fight every week when I was in school. The big difference today is school shootings because some kids don?t have a good idea of where the line is. But, I once again believe that goes back to poor parental influence and lack of parental guidance. Plus, I?ve yet to see a kid who brought his own gun to school. If you?ll notice it?s always a parent?s or relative?s gun locked away in a glass case, a real great place to house your weapons by the way.
No, I disagree with the majority of people on this one. I don?t think we have a bunch of new problems for kids today. I think it?s the same old problems except parents of today don?t spend enough time with their kids to train them on how to properly address things like drugs, sex, bullies and school violence. They are too busy out for themselves or mommy is out trying to find a new daddy because the last one left with a girl off the F-crew at work.
If you really want to address problems of drugs, sex and violence, the best way is just to talk to your kids about it instead of hoping the school or church will do it for you. Chalking up the problems of the youth of today to issues ?we adults don?t understand? is a bunch of bull and a cop-out. Unless you are well into the gray-headed generation, you?ve lived the same thing, the only difference being, you were equipped by your parents to handle those issues.
Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].