Maury Povich Teens

Years back I was really into talk shows, and in particular trashy pointless talk shows. The most infamous of them hands down was Jerry Springer, but in at a close second was the Maury Povich show. There was a topic that was often discussed on the Maury show, and that was the topic of "out of control teens". This topic would often show the teens bad behavior and the parents that are fed up. One of the funniest parts of this show is when the boot camp instructor would come out on stage yelling and screaming. I always thought to myself, "This is not going to work".  I'm not sure of the final outcome of each teen, but the crazy thing is I still hear this in 2016. Adults are always saying things like "These kids are so bad", or "This is the worst generation ever". You turn on the tv or click on Youtube and you can see teens fighting each other, fighting teachers, and other negative behavior that gets attached to the entire generation. The media over sensationalizes and over exaggerates reality. The reality is that most of the teens aren't out of control, it's just the ones that are highlighted that give the entire millennial generation a bad rap. It's like the Muslim extremist whose only sole purpose is to create chaos, yet all Muslims get labeled as terrorist.

               Here is what I want you to do...go back to the 1970's, 80's, and 90's and tell me that they didn't have teens that were labeled out of control. You can't because each generation has had teens that fit this category. The same things that we see happening with today's teens are things that happened when I was a kid. Students fought teachers, they brought guns to school, they were in gangs, they robbed, killed, and did most of the things you see in 2016. Here is the difference. In 1980's, 90's, and early 00's no one had camera phones, and the internet wasn't as popular as it is. The difference is that we can see everything that has been going on for years. A vale has been pulled back and now it's wide open naked for the world to see. Aside from that lies another issue. When I was growing up all of the older adults looked out for the younger generation. What happened with the millennial generation is that generation X didn't do like the baby boom generation and reach back to help. The Xer's became extremely selfish and didn't see this as their problem. One of the constant things that I've heard for years is, "That's the parent's job to raise their children not mine". The statement is very true, however it does take a village to raise a child. If no one showed this generation how to behave and the right things to do, then they will figure it out the best way they know how.  Have you ever seen a kid in out in public acting a plumb fool, and the first thing you say to yourself is "They must not have been raise correctly". Ok, now imagine a whole generation of individuals that weren't taught correctly because the adults didn't do their job and reach back. This is the result that you get. You can't blame the problems on the teens and I refuse to allow you to do so. I put the blame on lack of parenting, lack of community support, lack of mentoring, younger parents, and the government telling parents what they can and can't do.   

             We complain about the kids walking with their pants down, but where did they get it from? I will tell you where, they got it from the generation Xer's. We started that horrible trend and I was a part of it. When I was younger we wore our clothes backwards, inside out, shoes untied, and we started sagging our pants. Again kids learn from what they see and what they are taught. We talk about the wild hair look, and that started again with us. The point it is don't talk down on this generation, chastise this generation, look down on this generation, or point fingers at this generation. Instead of doing these negative things how about you help this generation. Mentoring is the best way that you can bring change to the teens of this generation. Don't give me your excuses as to why you can't mentor, but give me reasons that you can. People always ask what is the key to changing this generation, and the answer is MENTORING. If you need help with getting started just ask me and I will point you in the right direction.  Change only happens when the people as a whole stand up and says ENOUGH! Be a part of that movement and let's create change.