I find it interesting. We send our kids to school. We’re concerned about rebellious teenagers or riotous youths. We have child protection policies and there are a lot of projects regarding young people who are under-18. There are all these labels for people who are living through their first 2 decades of their lives and the only thing we can be sure of is that they are not adults.
As such, there are things in place to make sure they are protected, or that they have enough activities, or so that they have a good learning experience. There are certain ways in which adults are to act around them to make sure there is absolutely no hint of anything which might (even remotely) be construed as abuse.
We have children’s workers, youth workers and family workers. People take the role of ‘appropriate adults’ and mentors. There are specialised professions for working with those under-18s. Whilst it may be no bad thing, it all adds to the divide. It is precisely these people who need to help people grow from childhood to adulthood.
It doesn’t happen overnight as a person becomes 18. It’s a process. It takes years of teaching and learning where the social boundaries are. It means that as one of those young people goes through life, we must gradually give them more responsibility, rather than making them abide by the same rules until they are 18… at which point the cultural rulebook suddenly changes and they are thrown into a whole realm of freedom they are not ready for.
Is it any wonder why the nation’s young adult population is such a mess? Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, vehicle abuse, people abuse and no taking responsibility: ‘it must be someone else’s fault’ because it always was whilst they were growing up.
I think we’ve missed the big picture. You can call them children or kids or teenagers or young people or youths or under-18s. Call them whatever you want.
When are we going to start treating them like human beings?
As such, there are things in place to make sure they are protected, or that they have enough activities, or so that they have a good learning experience. There are certain ways in which adults are to act around them to make sure there is absolutely no hint of anything which might (even remotely) be construed as abuse.
We have children’s workers, youth workers and family workers. People take the role of ‘appropriate adults’ and mentors. There are specialised professions for working with those under-18s. Whilst it may be no bad thing, it all adds to the divide. It is precisely these people who need to help people grow from childhood to adulthood.
It doesn’t happen overnight as a person becomes 18. It’s a process. It takes years of teaching and learning where the social boundaries are. It means that as one of those young people goes through life, we must gradually give them more responsibility, rather than making them abide by the same rules until they are 18… at which point the cultural rulebook suddenly changes and they are thrown into a whole realm of freedom they are not ready for.
Is it any wonder why the nation’s young adult population is such a mess? Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, vehicle abuse, people abuse and no taking responsibility: ‘it must be someone else’s fault’ because it always was whilst they were growing up.
I think we’ve missed the big picture. You can call them children or kids or teenagers or young people or youths or under-18s. Call them whatever you want.
When are we going to start treating them like human beings?
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