what a piggish world it is//*

Thursday, October 20, 2005 * (56) teens...

A teenager is someone from the age of thirteen to nineteen ie. a person whose age is a number ending in '-teen'. This is the age where children begin to have more responsibilities and begin to want more respect as people. But it is also a very unstable area of development and emotional instability which may result in a troubled teen...

A troubled teen appreciates nothing, disrespects his parents, refuses to take responsibility for his actions, blames others for his own poor choices, is academically unmotivated, but is motivated to do anything to gain acceptance by his peers.

To most, the troubled teen is a thug, a thief, a gangster, a criminal, violent, defiant toward all authority or any other description that describes someone with a mental disorder. But the troubled teen is actually a 'spoiled brat' - a child who has every possible resource available to make something out of himself, yet all he wants to do is hang out with negative friends and 'run his own show'. He is a child who is blessed, gifted and talented but is wasting his potential. He is only interested in how he is viewed by his friends and cares nothing of his parents and how they feel.

Normally, about the age of 12, the child begins to change. He acts 8 and demands to be treated as if he were 30. The troubled teen does not need a therapist... he needs a sense of reality, he needs discipline and a sense of appreciation for the blessings he has. Such children suffer from 'entitlementitis'.

Entitlementitis is a disease associated with prolonged exposure to unearned prosperity combined with numerous parental rescues. It comes from living in a society where everything is expected instantaneously, without effort. Entitlementitis can only persist in an environment where accountability is disregarded and blaming others is always the 'special of the day'.

The main culprit behind entitlementitis is the parents. We work very hard to protect and provide for our children. We do such a good job that kids don't learn to struggle, to perservere or to fail. In trying so hard to give our children the best of everything, we end up rescuing them from the very thing that is supposed to bring about their growth and maturity. Then they turn on us. The bottom line is that teens lack nothing and do nothing to get it. When they struggle, we rescue them and bail them out.

We are a society geared on entertainment. Children today demand to be entertained at all times and we give it to them. The children have it all - video players, x-boxes, playstations, computers, CDs, DVDs and MP3s. We give them dance lessons, take them to taekwondo and buy them anything they want.

Unfortunately by the time the children are 12, they have no idea what reality is. They are never satisfied and always demanding more. We are compelled to buy them happiness. If we think it will make them happy, we give it to them. We want our children to be happy so bad that we are willing to destroy them to make them happy. We are taking all the pain out of life, the kind of pain that we all need to go through in order to grow and mature.

To make matters worse, teens are specifically targeted by businesses because they tend to maintain the preferences they develop at this age. Music, movies, tv programmes, computer games, video games, clothes and handphones are heavily marketed and often popular amongst teens.

These children need a wake-up call. They need discipline and to learn to work hard for what they achieve. They need to stop making excuses, stop blaming others and take responsibility for the quality of their own life. They need a dose of reality and they need to grow up. They need to become considerate toward others, exercising compassion for those who are less fortunate and become thankful for all that they have. They need to learn to wait, to serve others and be trusted......

the pig oinked at 2:25 PM

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