Mollycoddled 'Snowflake children' warns head teacher

[TorqueVR]

Last year old friends living in south London were going to Spain for a week with their three daughters and two grandsons. (one daughter married, one widowed and the other's a doctor, aged 28 - 35). Mate was faffing about getting to Gatwick, and I rather naively said why not give them the date and time of the flight and meet them at the airport. He looked at me as if I was barking mad!! I'm not sure if they couldn't do it of if he didn't trust them to do it.

[WolfieBot]

Ari said:

WolfieBot said:

Ari said:

WolfieBot said:

There's nothing remotely newsworthy about an adult putting down the generation after their own.

So you feel nothing's changed then? Young adults today are no different to young adults of 25 years ago, 50 years ago - it's just a matter of perspective?

That's not what I said. I said there's nothing new about people moaning about it. "Back in my day, blah blah blah."

It's a fact of life that the world changes massively from generation to generation, it doesn't necessarily make it better or worse. Everyone looks back at their childhood through rose tinted glasses only remembering how great it was.

I quite agree. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's not a valid observation either.

There appears to me to have been a huge shift in attitude amongst young adults toward the desire to get on with life, have independence, expand your horizons and basically grow up.

That's nothing to do with 'rose tinted glasses', the statistics are out there in everything from driving test passes to home buying.

Fair points. But why does it have to be seen as a bad thing that people are waiting until 25 to learn to drive instead of 17?

If anything that seems like a good thing, especially when you listen to the stories of past generations about drink driving. Wait until all the nights out and boozing is out of the system.

Same with house buying, people are working until they're 67 now, what's the harm in waiting until your 30s to buy a house? Owning a house isn't the be all and end all for everyone.


(Full disclosure... I'm 30, passed my test age 17, went to uni at 18, relocated on my own after uni, bought first house at 26. )

[Moonhawk]

oyster said:

It's amazing that we somehow expect kids to walk home (perhaps along/across busy streets, past sink estates, through dark parks) to avoid the log jam, as you put it, around school drop off and pick up times, but think nothing of fully grown adults jumping in cars to travel a few miles.

If we expect kids to be using bikes and walking to school, then surely we should be expecting adults to do likewise for work (or anything else for that matter)?

To be fair - kids do have rather more time, and far fewer responsibilities on their hands than the average adult.

They also tend to live a lot closer to their school than the average adult does to their place of work.

[Willy Nilly]

The number of field fires, straw stack fires and general vandalism has gone down to almost nothing in recent years. It seems the kids are too fat and lazy to go out smashing things up and burning them now

[Red 4]

Walking and being completely unaware of your surroundings because you are looking at your phone/ are busy being offended on Facetube are dangerous.

Much safer to have parents abandon their cars 2 feet from the school gates (normal rules applying to everyone else are suspended if on a school run).

The most ironic thing about this story is that Snowflakes are offended at being called Snowflakes.

[Debaser]

They're the all singing, all dancing, crap of the world.

[pequod]

WolfieBot said:

Fair points. But why does it have to be seen as a bad thing that people are waiting until 25 to learn to drive instead of 17?

If anything that seems like a good thing, especially when you listen to the stories of past generations about drink driving. Wait until all the nights out and boozing is out of the system.

Same with house buying, people are working until they're 67 now, what's the harm in waiting until your 30s to buy a house? Owning a house isn't the be all and end all for everyone.


(Full disclosure... I'm 30, passed my test age 17, went to uni at 18, relocated on my own after uni, bought first house at 26. )

You have made a very good point and I agree, even though I am from a previous age!

The old generation (post WW2) had to 'get on with it' with regard to finding a job that was mainly driven by family economics more than anything else. These days the pressure on older teenagers to leave home are much less driven by the same economical situation and, understandably, are not under any rush to leave home. This is not a problem except for the parents who thought they could be ejecting their progeny from the nest at 18 yo!

They will, of course, be looking at a retirement age of 75 (possibly later!) by the mid 21st century so why wouldn't you take advantage of an easy start now?

[Funkycoldribena]

Willy Nilly said:

The number of field fires, straw stack fires and general vandalism has gone down to almost nothing in recent years. It seems the kids are too fat and lazy to go out smashing things up and burning them now

Yep,boring sods.
Worse thing that happens now is my WiFi slows down.

[MC Bodge]

oyster said:

If we expect kids to be using bikes and walking to school, then surely we should be expecting adults to do likewise for work (or anything else for that matter)?

I do expect adults to do similar, but I am frequently disappointed....

[Moonhawk]

MC Bodge said:

I do expect adults to do similar, but I am frequently disappointed....

I'll do it - as soon as I get my 6 weeks summer holiday, Easter and Christmas breaks - plus half terms.

Also - if it could be arranged for my past biology teacher to attend my workplace on a daily basis - that would also be greatly appreciated

[MC Bodge]

It happens during every generation.

Can you forage for your food, track wild beasts, navigate by nature, memorise hours of stories, hunt from a bareback horse, joust, have 3 arrows in the air from your longbow, fight with a sword, etc etc?

Apparently, prior to WW2, the young of America were thought to be lazy and wouldn't amount to much. That generation went on to do all kinds.

Having said that, a lot of people (young and old) do seem to be inactive, lacking in a lot of life skills and are not prepared to suffer any form of discomfort.

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 21st February 19:26

[markcoznottz]

Vaud said:

Randy Winkman said:

Doesn't everyone have an equivalent time when they think things were best? In the future, some people will say that now is best, because for them it will have been.

All depends on "best". What we have now is amazing in terms of what is possible for healthcare, technology, relative costs and freedom to travel, etc - way better than the early 90s.

On the other hand we didn't have social media, mobile phones (generally) and we only had the IRA and a Gulf War to worry about. At least the Cold War was over.

Rose tinted specs and all that. Agree with another poster early 90's food in this country absolutely horrific, not really moved on from the 70's. Pub scene in this country bloody amazing 1990-2007, never to be repeated, any Friday night packed out good atmosphere and good age cross section.

[anonymous-user]

Triumph Man said:

BAM225 said:

Randy Winkman said:

WolfieBot said:

There's nothing remotely newsworthy about an adult putting down the generation after their own.

Exactly - but it's the Daily Telegraph, whose modus operandi is to tell us how things were better in the old days.

In this thread: old men wingeing about how things were better in there day, once again this has to come out....

Well as somebody who is apparently of this generation, I agree with the sentiments in the telegraph. People are getting wussier.

Hmm, no with the increased exposure the internet has brought us EVERYTHING is now reported, cotton wool kids of the 90's and there parents would never expose themselves to the media etc, now with the internet, sometimes its unavoidable.

God, pistonheads is turning into a bigger old boys club than the freemasons.

[wc98]

Red 4 said:

Rovinghawk said:

I do think that the poor little lambs should be given sufficient training & incentive to stand on their own two feet by early adulthood. As per the OP, much of the blame can be laid at the door of overprotective/overindulgent parents.

Bloody hell - I find myself agreeing with you again.

That's twice in a few days and it has to stop.

It's simple - if your child is a spoilt little st/ snowflake it's your fault.

Not society's, not the school's, not the police's, not the government's fault, etc etc.

Yours. The parents.

most definitely.

[Countdown]

Red 4 said:

Rovinghawk said:

I do think that the poor little lambs should be given sufficient training & incentive to stand on their own two feet by early adulthood. As per the OP, much of the blame can be laid at the door of overprotective/overindulgent parents.

Bloody hell - I find myself agreeing with you again.

That's twice in a few days and it has to stop.

It's simple - if your child is a spoilt little st/ snowflake it's your fault.

Not society's, not the school's, not the police's, not the government's fault, etc etc.

Yours. The parents.

By “parents” are you by any chance referring to all those PHers who have managed to find someone who has (consciously or unconsciously) agreed to procreate with them....?

It would be interesting to know if PHers think their own kids are snowflakes or if they’re somehow immune to this syndrome,

[nammynake]

Rovinghawk said:

I think there's a few things schools should teach:

Finance (interest, mortgages, credit cards, bankruptcy, BACS transfers, etc)
Home maintenance (basic how to wire a plug/change a fuse, drill/rawlplug/screw, polyfilla a hole, use a paintbrush/roller, etc)
How to use a main train or bus station sans internet
House purchase procedure and how renting works
The fact that it's a competitive world & there aren't prizes for all

Or parents could take some responsibility and not expect schools to teach them 'life' skills ?

[Funkycoldribena]

Countdown said:

By “parents” are you by any chance referring to all those PHers who have managed to find someone who has (consciously or unconsciously) agreed to procreate with them....?

It would be interesting to know if PHers think their own kids are snowflakes or if they’re somehow immune to this syndrome,

I'm not immune,told my teen numerous times to go out robbing old ladies and smash some windows but ps4 rules his life.
Doesn't want to know.

[Rovinghawk]

nammynake said:

Or parents could take some responsibility and not expect schools to teach them 'life' skills ?

Both could teach it.

[Vaud]

Rovinghawk said:

nammynake said:

Or parents could take some responsibility and not expect schools to teach them 'life' skills ?

Both could teach it.

Mutual reinforcement... joint responsibility.

[MC Bodge]

nammynake said:

Or parents could take some responsibility and not expect schools to teach them 'life' skills ?

Our children are still quite young, but we are trying. They are certainly not molly-coddled and are encouraged to make things, get outside and to get their hands dirty -definitely not sitting and watching/playing on tablets, which they would possibly do 24 hours a day if they weren't forced not to be....

I'm hopeful that they will see that having active, interested, knowledgeable, capable parents who are variously able to cook (not me), fix things, do home improvements, turn their hand to things etc. is the norm and that they will grow up similar.