Irresponsible Teens: Where Did We Go Wrong?

It seems like everyone that I know either has or knows someone with a irresponsible teenager that refuses to be responsible. It seems that responsibility goes against the latest trends and must be totally uncool or something. When I was a teenager, my mom would give us freedoms dependent on our maturity levels. My brother was the oldest, but she always felt better when she knew that I was tagging along with him. I don’t know if it was because she felt I was more responsible or if she thought that he would be less prone to doing something stupid with me around. Either way, it worked.

Today it seems that children get certain privileges just for being who they are. There is no longer that level of maturity for the children to reach for that the parents used to set for them. A friend of mine gave their 16 year old son a car and I asked what was the occasion and the father responded saying that he was sick of driving the kid around. WTF?? Excuse my French, but what is this country coming to? You give your children expensive gifts just because you can? I just knew that the dad was going to tell me that his son raised half of the money on his own and he matched it. Or, he made honor roll and he’s been helping out a lot around the house. Am I wrong for thinking this way? If I am, please let me know and I will jump on the next shuttle to the 21 century!

I think a lot of parents that “Fake it, until they make it” are using their children to make it seem like they have accomplished something, knowing deep down inside that there are more important things that they could be spending that money on…Like tuition for college maybe?. If you truly can afford to give your child a car, FINE! Atleast let your teenager earn it so they will have that sense of accomplishment. Just my two cents. This IS Sean’s View ya know!

July 2nd, 2007