Teens and young adults are different than "back in the day." Remember getting your learner's permit ON THE DAY you turned 15 and a half? And your license on your birthday when you turned 16? Nowadays, in my informal poll and experience, that is the exception. Teens aren't anxious to get their license anymore. My 17 year old granddaughter doesn't drive and has shown almost no interest in learning.
The second part of this equation is leaving home. Lots of college grads are staying with their parents, and some "boomerang" kids are coming back to the family home as well. I left home twice while still in high school (my poor parents) and the 2nd time I didn't go back.
I don't think either of these cultural trends is money-based, either. A friend of mine summed up her answer with this: "The world is a much scarier and dangerous place than the one we grew up in."
That stopped me short, and I began to wonder, is that true? It's hard to see that in proper perspective because my days as a teen are long gone, but it did seem to be a more lighthearted world back then. Could that be the answer?
I know Altamont and Charles Manson changed the equation for me. There was actually a time when you could tell what someone was like by the way they looked.
It seems that terrorism, poverty, crime, dangerous drugs, etc. look different through a lens at 61 than they do to someone just starting out. And it should be so, because we've lived through more and understand that life -- and love -- has its ups and downs. But it saddens me to think that young people are facing a scary world that they feel ill-equipped to deal with.
Remember when us "kids" could trick-or-treat on our own, door-to-door, no x-rays of our loot and no drive-by shootings"
The good old days! Sad to see many of the "changes" that have taken place since we were kids.
Posted by: Steve Enos | August 09, 2009 at 10:49 AM