This is where kids get it.....

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e06_1359380173

This is not meant to be a race issue thing.  Race has nothing to do with the content.

The language in this 4 minute clip is horrible.  The f-bomb gets dropped a lot.  The reason I posted this video is to show where kids get their manners from.  Mom and dad act like punks, kids act like punks.  Mom and dad are disrespectful, kids are disrespectful.

[adgal]

So very true Brice.  Kids imitate their greatest role model...their parents.  People need to remember that and take this as the serious responsibility it is.  Good post.

[adgal]

Ok, so now you've got me started thinking....dangerous.....lol.

We sit here and wonder why our society in general seems to have become one where people dont' take personal responsibility.  We wonder why so many of our programs designed to assist folks through a tough time have become a lifestyle (and trust me, that is generational).  We wonder why some people think it perfectly acceptable to just take what they want without fear of consequences or thought for whom they are hurting.  And then we look in the mirror...

That is not a slam on all parents.  There are still plenty of us doing our best to raise our kids with work ethic and values.  Unfortunately, there aren't enough of us doing this, and it really really shows.  So they can put all the gun laws in place they want.  They can talk about ending abortion, keeping gay marriage illegal, putting legal restrictions on the size of soda's you can buy, removing obese children from their parents and the list goes on.  It seems no one is identifying the real problem.  It comes down to parenting.  Now, kids well raised can go sideways.  It happens.  But when we are seeing kids turn to gangs to feel like they are cared for, or putting more emphasis on the values of their peers vs. parents gently directing them towards the appropriate peers, staying out as late as they want without mom or dad even knowing where they are (or caring), all these laws and restrictions in the world won't help.  We need to find a way to get parents to understand that there is more to parenting then giving birth.  Now, how to do that?  How do we get parents to care more, especially if they were never properly raised and nurtured themselves?  

[brice1967]

I don't know how you go about it, adgal.  Kids today are kind of taught to not pay attention to neighbors, they have no discipline at home so they don't really listen to teachers... they don't feel they have to.  Most of the kids we are talking about don't listen to their parents.

How do you turn a parents head on?  I think it might be too late.  Kids who received no attention growing up are having kids now.  Some of their parents are encouraging it...  It's a mess.

I have talked about a group of kids I grew up with.  Their parents were alcoholics.  These kids were feral... there was some love in the house but not much guidance.  Only 1 of the 5 has not been incarcerated.  Only 1...

[adgal]

Yep, if we could fix that one, we'd fix a lot of societies problems.  We can offer all the interventions, intensive parenting programs in the world.  But we cannot MAKE people want to make those changes in their lives.  And the problem will continue, and get worse.  Generation after generation.  Kinda scary.

[nursegirl6572]

And the problem will continue, and get worse.  Generation after generation.  Kinda scary

Absolutely.

Look at the family unit back in the 40's and 50's compared to now...look at the respect our parents had for their elders.  Even MY generation...heck, when I was a kid, I addressed ALL adults as "Mr or Mrs Whatever", I'm sure you all did as well.  Even something like that..something so simple is gone.  Kids call adults by their first name all the time.  I didn't even KNOW my teachers HAD a first name...lolol..now, it's nothing for the kids to know it, and sometimes even call them by it.  Our great grandparents must be rolling over in their graves.

THAT'S the breakdown....we don't have the same kind of respect for the family unit, young people think it's perfectly acceptable (and even "cool") to have babies at 15...and never have two kids with the same dad...never having a dad in the picture at all.  Can you IMAGINE that stuff happening in the 50's?  Oh my...never.  Rarely anyway.  It wasn't socially acceptable, therefore it wasn't as common.  

One term I absolutely hate...I think is SO disrespectful is "baby daddy", or "baby momma".  OMG how I hate that..it sounds uneducated and it makes parenting sound like a joke.  But this is the mentality out there now.  Parents don't "parent" anymore, and kids NEED guidance and support to have a chance.

THAT, IMO is the crux of the matter and is what is responsible for just about every social issue we face...drugs, gangs, kids having kids, violence, joblessness, dependence on welfare...etc.  Until people want better for the NEXT generation (even if THEY didn't have it)..this stuff will never change.

It's very sad.

[brice1967]

I thought all of my teachers first names were either ma'am or sir, gender depending of course.  Not now....

I believe it was adgal who said even good kids go sideways sometimes.  I have a friend whose daughter did just that.  This girl had all of the parental support she needed, all of the guidance she needed.

At the age of 17 she got knocked up.  At 18 was a mom and shacked up.  19 she was divorced with a child and on government assistance.  Today, the father has primary custody of the child because mom can't pull her head from her butt.  Mom is now 21 years old, and been in jail 3 times because of her wonderful boyfriend who is a drug dealer.  (This girl thinks she can save this kid.... she is not doing drugs but is just plain dumb.)

This girls parents are at wits end.  

[R Glass]

“I thought all of my teachers first names were either ma'am or sir, gender depending of course”
I was raised an Army Brat. Every adult was addressed with Yes Sir or Ma’am and may The Lord have Mercy on your Soul if you didn’t.    

” I addressed ALL adults as "Mr or Mrs Whatever",
If they were in the Military I addressed them by their rank. It wasn’t Mr. Anderson, it was Sergeant Anderson.