Teenagers.
Created | Updated Jul 29, 2005
Contrary to popular belief (and numerous guide entries), teenagers are not mono-syllabic, mono-brained, shallow, agressive, pretentious Sheep, but just as diverse as the adults around them....
While it is true that teenagers require their own space and often enjoy loud music, this is not due to an excess of bad temper- purely a desire to experience some kind of detatchment from their childhood- a kind of independence, if you like, and an opportunity to make sense of the world around them.
As for shopping and commercialism- the media target the teenage market as a group of people who are deciding on what they want to do with their lives... and take full advantage of that by providing the easy option- a stereotyped image- pop music, brand names and labelled clothes. But as I said above, teenagers are diverse!
There are a vast number, possibly even making up the majority of teenagers, taking a different route- away from the sulky lie-ins and high-street-shopping-worship that are supposed to define them. The meaningless noise parents might hear is infact the composition of songs- a creative use of time! The artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, dancers, sports-people, politicans and actors and actresses (peopel so highly respected in life today) of the future are, as I write this, being viewed as the angst-ridden, shallow, wasting teenagers of today's society. The loud music, the poems about broken hearts, the fashoin design, the vast collection of DVDs- all of these things, among millions of others should be recognised and appreciated. They are creative! They are constructive and worthwhile.
Please don't think I'm ignoring the potential doctors, social-workers, vets and members of every other future worthwhile career thoug- I am just trying to make the point (in the most dramatic way possible) that teenagers, whatever their potential, have to be respected.
They have to be allowed to be themselves and discover things in their own right. Small things can help- just listen extra hard to the lyrics of that song your teenage daughter is playing in her bedroom or look properly at the gothic drawings on her bedroom door. Take an interest in your son's writing, or his love of animals... let them create their own space in life, and the `lazy, abusive, uncommunicative teenagers of today` will soon be a thing of the past....
While it is true that teenagers require their own space and often enjoy loud music, this is not due to an excess of bad temper- purely a desire to experience some kind of detatchment from their childhood- a kind of independence, if you like, and an opportunity to make sense of the world around them.
As for shopping and commercialism- the media target the teenage market as a group of people who are deciding on what they want to do with their lives... and take full advantage of that by providing the easy option- a stereotyped image- pop music, brand names and labelled clothes. But as I said above, teenagers are diverse!
There are a vast number, possibly even making up the majority of teenagers, taking a different route- away from the sulky lie-ins and high-street-shopping-worship that are supposed to define them. The meaningless noise parents might hear is infact the composition of songs- a creative use of time! The artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, dancers, sports-people, politicans and actors and actresses (peopel so highly respected in life today) of the future are, as I write this, being viewed as the angst-ridden, shallow, wasting teenagers of today's society. The loud music, the poems about broken hearts, the fashoin design, the vast collection of DVDs- all of these things, among millions of others should be recognised and appreciated. They are creative! They are constructive and worthwhile.
Please don't think I'm ignoring the potential doctors, social-workers, vets and members of every other future worthwhile career thoug- I am just trying to make the point (in the most dramatic way possible) that teenagers, whatever their potential, have to be respected.
They have to be allowed to be themselves and discover things in their own right. Small things can help- just listen extra hard to the lyrics of that song your teenage daughter is playing in her bedroom or look properly at the gothic drawings on her bedroom door. Take an interest in your son's writing, or his love of animals... let them create their own space in life, and the `lazy, abusive, uncommunicative teenagers of today` will soon be a thing of the past....
