The Decline of Youth

The decline of youth

      The behavior of adolescents is not far from my reality, just three years ago I finished school, but today I see a completely different reality from what me and my friends lived in our years in school. At that time, hitting someone and leaving him or her paralytic just because of the skin color or physical appearance was not in our minds. We preferred to make jokes but always with respect, and then a friendly hug while laughing or another joke as revenge. I cannot understand how teenagers of fourteen or sixteen year old can have so much hate towards someone and are capable of beating someone without feeling remorse. What happens to the youth? It is a question that many have made, and so many automatic replies saying "It is part of adolescence." No, it is not part of adolescence, I was teenager a few years ago, and I know that hitting someone, have sex with multiple people at once or being part of sexual games is not part of adolescence. Although many experts assure behavior problems are just part of being an adolescent, this type of behavior cannot be seen as something common or natural that changes from generation to generation. I strongly believe it is more than that, it is getting to be a group problem and is important to find a solution before it gets bigger.

      After a certain age children have a different perspective about everything, they start getting more involve with the society; therefore they need to define themselves, an important moment in their lives, where they will need the guidance of their parents. According to Edith B. Burgos (1), these changes are beginning to show from 10 to 11 years for women and a little later in boys. Given these changes it is necessary that teenagers have a person who will listen and absolve all doubts, however, is at this crucial time where most parents make mistakes. Unfortunately, the need to generate income in some families makes both parents work, according to studies by the government, 57.5% of households both parents are working, it prevents spend much time with their children and little slowly lose interest and involvement in the lives of their children. "He plays with me very few times, at least once every five weeks we go to a park and play with the ball ... if it is winter, we can be without playing perfectly eight weeks!,” says a 11 years old girl. Since, at this stage in which they are in the search of their identity, not having the presence of their parents make them look for a model in other people, but not always a person with good intentions will be found. Who teens look up to as a role model can determine what kind of person they become, including their appearance, attitude and goals in life. It really is a serious problem that parents show no interest in what happens to their children. On the other hand, there are parents who over protect their teenagers and make them feel trapped in a house of glass.  The lack of interest in understanding more about the changes that teenagers are going through is because people attributed this to the belief that is just part of adolescents, as any scientist might say. On the other hand, there are parents who over protect their teenagers and make them feel trapped in a house of glass, what is also wrong. As I have pointed out, it is more than a part of life, and is crucial for the parents, relatives and teachers to pay attention to the children in order to avoid an uncontrolled adolescent. This is just the beginning of a long part of their lives, where they are going to decide who they want to be, so people involve in their live with the best intentions, should be more worried about doing their job as role model and be there for all the new experiences that teenagers are going through, even more now, when they are exposed to many others factors that can influence in their growth.