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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 21 September 2026 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply
It’s been my experience that too many parents want to avoid “confrontation” with their children, somehow expecting them to absorb reason and responsibility out of thin air.
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Michael Roberts
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Joined: 20 April 2004
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Posted: 21 September 2026 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply
The behaviors of kids are no different.

——

But they are really different, though. I always joke that when I was a kid, being sent to your room was a punishment, nowadays, it’s a reward. Pretty much every Gen Z kid I know has no desire to get a driver’s license. They don’t want the independence or responsibility. My friends who teach on the university level tell me that their undergrads struggle with the basics of being an independent adult. 
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Evan S. Kurtz
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Joined: 04 July 2022
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Posted: 21 September 2026 at 10:26pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply
So you’re saying the children now love luxury… are now tyrants of their household/teachers, etc.?
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 21 September 2026 at 11:02pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply
So you’re saying the children now love luxury… are now tyrants of their household/teachers, etc.?

——

No?
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Steven Myers
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Posted: 22 September 2026 at 12:11am | IP Logged | 5 post reply
Things do change, and I do think the problems are different. But that doesn't mean the current generation Z and Alpha kids are better or worse than previous generations. I highly recommend Jean Twenge (https://www.jeantwenge.com/) who has studied generation difference for years, and her book Generations is one of my favorite books ever!
I even did an in-service, largely inspired by her work, on teaching gen Z and alpha.
And yes, the biggest change is technology....with every generation. Teens today grew up with smartphones, as people my age were the first kids to grow up with a television. Kids being born today (gen Beta) are going to grow up with AI. The tech gets more extreme.
We gen Xers were the kids who raised ourselves, whereas "helicopter parenting" has been around for decades now.
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Bill Collins
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Posted: 22 September 2026 at 6:33am | IP Logged | 6 post reply
I agree about being sent to your room used to be a
punishment. I was confined to my room for 2 weeks in
summer as a pre-schooler with Measles just before
vaccinations were available, despite my mum's best
efforts i still remember the boredom. Fast forward to
when i was about 10. I was grounded for one day. The
bedroom i shared with my brother had no tv, only a few
British comic annuals and books all read many times, plus
very basic Lego. That day of boredom was punishment
enough! Today's kids have so much in their bedrooms that
i can't imagine being grounded being punishment.

I agree with James, many of today's kids don't stand a
chance.

There's a bitter irony that people my mum's age (86) are
being excluded and discriminated against by their
ignorance and resistance to technology, whilst the young
are being made so dependendent on technology that they
can't function without it. Also A.I. is very likely to
take jobs away from them.
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James Woodcock
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Joined: 21 September 2007
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Posted: 22 September 2026 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply
Back to my comment re kids watching horror movies and
Edward's point that 7 year olds used to watch them - I
agree there. I watched horror movies at an age well
before 18.
But I know of 3 year olds who watch horror movies - with
full on images of dismemberment etc.
Three!
They are watching levels of violence we could not imagine
at that age - and we ask why they then kick chairs over
when they cannot get their own way.

I see so many young kids who will scream the place down
if the screen is taken away from them.
I see parents who have no idea how to deescalate a
situation where a child is losing it.
I see parents that have one mode of interaction with
their kids - shout and scream at them.

And yes, in each of those cases, the kids are really hard
to calm down and control.

But is that really the kid's fault or the product of the
years proceeding the situation I am witnessing?
I am a firm believer that the years leading up to the
event have forged that child's mind, and they have been
let down on so many fronts.
They live in chaos, are often treated in ways I could
never accept as being acceptable, and are expected to
just turn it off.

For context, I have done kids and youth work for over 30
years now, in an area we in the UK used to call a sink
estate. Massive high unemployment, low expectations, high
crime, low incomes.
It was getting better, the kids were getting better, and
then the guts were ripped out of every support action
that was going on in 2010 - and it has been a downward
trend since then.
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James Woodcock
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Posted: 22 September 2026 at 1:02pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply
Pretty much every Gen Z kid I know has no desire to get a
driver’s license.
--------
Where we are, the waiting list for a driving test is
months. There is now a black market in selling test slots
it is that difficult to get one.

BUT, with the price of cars now, I fully understand why
they would be going for e-bikes and scooters rather than a
car.
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