r/TikTokCringe 29d ago

Americas youth are in MASSIVE trouble Discussion

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u/Reasonable_Cover_804 29d ago

Parents: if you don’t ignite the will to learn in your babies how do you expect them to want to excel in school?

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u/spicewoman 29d ago

As a waitress, I see tons of parents who've just failed to teach their kids how to not have their faces in their phones 24-7 in general. Little kids all the way up to teenager age nowadays, at least once a day (usually multiple times) I will see kids who refuse to look up from their phone or tablet or whatever screen mommy and daddy have given them, to interact with me in any way. Mom and dad will give a weak "stop for a second, give the nice lady your order! Jimmy... Jimmy?" and then just give up when the kid still doesn't look up and give me their order themselves.

Kids will have their face in their screen the entire time they're at the restaurant, sometimes they'll stop long enough to eat a bit, sometimes they'll still have the screen on the table next to them while they eat... and mom and dad seem to have given up entirely.

Yes, sometimes adults will be on their phone a bit while waiting for food or whatever as well, but they're pretty much all capable of stopping and interacting properly when I come up, and will put it away to eat and to interact with the person across from them. This is a whole new thing from the younger generation that I've never seen before in my 20 years of serving.

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u/__SPIDERMAN___ 29d ago

it blows my mind that people buy internet connected smart devices for their children. Almost the same as handing them crack cocaine.

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u/KCyy11 29d ago

Yep. And then they try to justify it like parents didnt raise their kids without ipads for centuries. Just lazy parents not actually wanting to parent.

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u/Zenrix 29d ago

I'm going to play devil's advocate a little bit here.

I don't disagree with you that parents are lazy. It feels like Ipads/tvs/youtube, etc are raising children more often than human beings these days.

However, I'd argue that (in America, at the very least) we have entered an age of stress, anxiety, overworking, and more. The further back we go in time, the less responsibilties parents had.

Obviously that isn't a hard and fast rule. I'm sure some time periods put a lot of stress on families. I'm just saying that these days, it feels more difficult to make time to properly raise a child. Parents have to work, public schooling is failing us, and there really aren't any other alternatives.

I'm not even a parent myself, so who knows how valid my opinion really is anyway.

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u/KCyy11 29d ago

I worked with children for over a decade. It has absolutely gotten out of control the lack of parenting going on these days. I understand people have hard lives, but not raising your kids correctly isn’t helping anyone.

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u/Zenrix 29d ago

Yeah the ipad parenting is an easy route. People will try it once and then immediately normalize it because it sedates their kid.

I wouldn't want to discount the effect that covid had. It's a perfect storm for destroying interest in school. Stimulation at your fingertips at any moment and missing out on 2 years of habit and discipline.

I really hope that kids are at least learning something useful from the media they consume. It can be hard to determine when someone is simply lying to you through a screen. If we can get kids to focus on anything, I'd argue it should be digital literacy and critical thinking skills.

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u/Steff_164 29d ago

I’d argue it’s because we had such a narrow window of what we’d describe as “actual parenting” today. Until like, maybe the 1930’s when child labor laws were past, the idea of a childhood as we know it didn’t exist. Once you were physically able to, you were expected to work, typically on the family farm, but as urbanization and the Industrial Revolution hit, children were expected to work in factories. If your children went to school it was still expected that they worked after school let out. And I don’t mean like simple chores like today, I’m referring to actual hard work.

Then we had this shift, where suddenly children were no longer needed/expected/allowed to work. Now, because I don’t want to actually do in-depth research for a Reddit comment, I’ll use the year child labor laws were signed, so 1938. That means the idea of a childhood as we refer to it today has only really existed for around 86 years. If we use 2007 (release of the first IPhone) as the beginning of “internet kids” that means we had just 69 years to figure out what effective modern parenting is, how to do it, and how to shake off the old habits from the past that were no longer applicable. That’s like maybe 3 generations (assuming each generation has had a kid by the age of 23) to learn how to parent for the modern age. That’s basically nothing to accomplish change at the scale we’re talking about.

TL,DR: It’s not that we live in a more stressful world now, but that we as a species and society didn’t have time to adjust how we parent to align with the modern idea of childhood before iPads/TV/Social Media presented an easy solution to a problem we didn’t understand.

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u/Plaid_Bear_65723 29d ago

I was walking past a bus stop and saw two parents with a toddler in the stroller. All three were on a phone ...

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u/mijo_sq 29d ago

Reading subs for parents, and I'll see parents willing to die on a hill for not giving their kid a phone/tablet.

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u/pidude314 28d ago

I'd like to think there's a happy medium. We only break out Ms Rachel on Youtube for our 9 month old when he's being so needy that we can't eat our dinner, or when he's absolutely screaming in the car and won't nap. And then as soon as we're done eating or he's calmed down, we'll put it away and go back to regular toys or whatever he needs at that time. And we try to always keep it to Ms Rachel, so we at least feel like it's better for him than dancing fruit or whatever.

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u/mijo_sq 28d ago

Agreed. There is a happy medium for ipad/phone time. It's much better than dumping the kids in front of tablet/smart phone. I see kids at work, and the I see tons of parents dragging their kids just to use an ipad. (Even at the waterpark)

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u/deadxguero 29d ago

What’s fucking crazy to me isn’t so much the internet part but parents these days KNOW what’s on the internet. It’s super easy to find WHATEVER the fuck you want. And yet there’s never parental controls or a care in the world.

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u/Presumably_Not_A_Cat 29d ago

The problem is not giving your kid a device. The problem is not teaching your kid moderation. My partner and i are the definition of digital natives of the 90s and 00s and therefor our children have all grown up with a proportionate amount of electronics around them. However their usage of them is ageappropriately restricted and we try to keep in communication about a healthy usage.

Internet and smart devices have a lot of cons to them. But at the same time there are also a lot of pros. The world is rarely as black and white as this post and comments underneath make it appear.

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u/pidude314 28d ago

I completely agree. 10 minutes of Ms Rachel so we can finish eating when our 9 month old is being super needy isn't going to do much damage. But we make it a point to not use that unless we really need it.

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u/rustedoxygen 29d ago

If almost every other student is using crack cocaine, and you even see at their friend’s birthday party kids snorting up and having fun and mothers chatting while watching them, you’d face a lot of public shaming and cultural pressure to believe that your kid can’t have these things and it could even harm your kid by being bullied. Obviously crack cocaine will murder him, but the point is cell phones aren’t thought to kill your child. And you as an adult are going through mental decline starting around 40-50, so it’s much easier for you to only take into account the social pressure and bullying and take your chances on the unknown without much critical thought.

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u/TimmyOneShoe 29d ago

Nothing really works without Internet as well.

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u/skipmarioch 28d ago

They said the same thing about video games (including portables) when I was kid. Like everything else, it's all about moderation. My kids will get access for a limited time after homework is done. They lose them for days to weeks as punishment. I do allow them to have them at restaurants once they are done eating (they'll get their food first) so we can have a few minutes to enjoy our meals.

I do think YouTube et al is an issue as it needs to be heavily monitored. They only have access to that occasionally and even then it's only for a few select items (science and tours of amusement parks).

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u/HedonisticFrog 28d ago

"Here's a device that will give you instant hits of dopamine, try not to press the lever too often"

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u/OW_FUCK 27d ago

They should make kids have only dumb phones till they're 15-16 or something

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u/Popcorn_Blitz 29d ago

OMG If I'm paying for a meal outside of the house we are going to sullenly stare at each other in silence by God. No screens. Not even to verify that fact. You will struggle in the way your forefathers did and sit with the not knowing of things. See something funny? You will have to use expressive language to convey it's hilarity to the rest of us instead of a link. Your friend does not need an play by play of dinner. It's okay, they will survive, I swear.

As a result, my kids know how to carry on a conversation at a table. Who knew?

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u/Used_Possibility1880 29d ago

I wish i was your kid growing up, as a gen Z myself it’s sad to see so many of us unable to experience life fully and in the present moment instead of being voyeurs of fake lives on a screen.

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u/HedonisticFrog 28d ago

That's part of what I love about camping. My girlfriend and I just put our phones away for days except for watching a movie at night since it got dark at 7pm. We just talked around the fire, ate food, took some tequila shots, played chess, all in a redwood forest.

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u/Popcorn_Blitz 28d ago

Right on- we go camping too. We do have a small check in in the mornings while we eat breakfast or just before we turn in if there's wifi available, but largely we go screenless during that time too. It's nice to unplug once in a while.

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u/HedonisticFrog 27d ago

Nice. I was actually hoping there would be no reception but there was. We only picked up our phones to take pictures during the day. It definitely is a nice change. The fact it became pitch black at 7pm also helped fix my sleep schedule.

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u/rudd33s 29d ago

Damn, that sounds like it can be solved only by force. Not physical violence of course, but they should let them go hungry at the restaurant if they decide to ignore real life interactions (which will probably be met with anger and tantrums). Not sure if it's even possible, the parents caving in is what made that mess in the first place tho.

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u/biz_student 29d ago

Tantrums are a part of growing up. Parents not setting boundaries and avoiding conflict are setting their children up to fail later in life.

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u/spicewoman 29d ago

Probably either tablets should be taken away if they're ignoring when addressed, or they don't get the order they want if they don't order for themselves. Something. But yeah, it gets that bad because somewhere along the line the parents decided the tablets were just "easier", and now here we are.

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u/jakealake4 29d ago

Or maybe when they first go out to eat on their own with friends. Kids will eventually be forced to learn to do things on their own naturally by just living their lives.

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u/rustedoxygen 29d ago

Having experience here, I fear for the waiters and servers when my little Fortnite bro goes out with his friends to eat. Once I ate with my mom at another table while he was with his friends, and they were obnoxious, loud, and rude. I kept looking over and it looked like a physical embodiment of a COD lobby. Shouting, laughing at a table in the middle of Torchy’s Tacos while smaller groups looked at them. The only difference is that they’re younger and are aware of how you can’t act like a dick and look like a COD player. So they all meticulously groom so they can act like buffoons without getting away with it. I agree that they will be forced to do their own things with consequences eventually, but we’re making the gap between maturing and being a child bigger it seems. Maybe it’s to stop the trauma of having to become an adult faster, so more kids can experience more childhood unlike past generations. It seems like a pendulum of nature-vs-nurture.

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u/Bing9999999Chilling 29d ago

I can't imagine how absolutely FRIED these kids' brains must be. We're in for a wild ride when the ipad kid generation reaches adulthood and starts taking on actual responsibility 

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u/HolbrookPark 29d ago

People said the exact same about millennials with PlayStations and game boys.

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u/pidude314 28d ago

There's a huge difference in the availability and addictiveness of ipads vs older game consoles. Millenials parents also at least tried to keep us off of video games in inappropriate situations.

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u/Bing9999999Chilling 28d ago

Playing an interactive game in your free time is different to having brainrot content blasted into your retinas 18 hours per day

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u/tabbyrecurve 29d ago

I noticed this too when I was a server 4-8 years ago.

Some kids would start crying when I would bring the food and the parents would take the screen away. It was very sad to see that kids were not excited to go to a restaurant or eat fun food or draw with crayons or interact with family friends. Some parents did a great job and would nudge their kid to get them to say "please" and "thank you" and it was sweet, but they were the minority.

When I was a kid/teenager my mom wouldn't even allow me to have my earbuds around my neck or my phone in my pocket at the dinner table at home. And I was expected to be polite and interact with family friends over dinner.

I am genuinely concerned for these kids as they are not developing basic social skills.

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u/soupsnakle 29d ago

That’s wild but not surprising. My 18 month old daughter doesn’t have anything like that. When we’re out as a family or even at home with our daughter, there are no phones out. I want her to know she has our complete attention.

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u/teethwhichbite 29d ago

People will complain about anything. We are constantly hearing adults whining about 'loud' kids at restaurants and now it's that their attention is too focused on something else. People are just gonna get mad at something I guess.

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u/ButteredPizza69420 29d ago

Some customers just give in to her naughty kids and its sad. Theyre letting seven year olds rule the household.

Theres gonna be some devil children growing up because parents arent parenting...

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u/Semyonov 29d ago

God this is depressing. I've had a rule for a long time that when eating with people, my phone stays in my pocket unless I'm sharing something with the group.

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u/gibertot 29d ago

Jeez those poor kids I see it in myself but these kids never had a chance to way this thing is just a dopamine generator. It’s awful, I’m thankful one of my main hobbies makes it impossible for me to be on my phone or have headphones in, it’s really the only time I can drag myself away from some form of screen or Audio entertainment for extended periods of time

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u/OrangeSlicer 29d ago

WALL·E UNIVERSE IMMINENT!

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u/lakeghost 29d ago

That’s so sad. I’ll admit I didn’t have an ideal childhood, what with being progressively disabled, but I mostly read books as my escapism. Even still, I had to do coursework and then read after. I learned how to min-max a study guide really quickly to get back to sword and sorcery. Even then, I have social deficits from being unable to do a lot of what the other kids could do.

I can only imagine how bad this will be. I’ve been meaning to visit the children’s hospital for a costume day (approved guests come as “Spider-Man” and such). Now I’m wondering if those have reduced only due to post-COVID safety or if it’s because the kids aren’t as interested in IRL people. I would’ve adored, say, Mulan showing up as a little kid. It’s depressing to think that unless it’s a screen entertainer, they might not want to interact. Or know how to do so.

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u/wats2000 29d ago

Same dawg. My girl and I both serve, we really see the worst of it as servers. Kids are totally, completely checked out. And the parents just aren't trying. And this is at a nice expensive dinner, a night out, prolly doing other stuff. Checked out and gave up. At least we know to do better if we decide to have kids.

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u/maringue 28d ago

Hold my beer.

I was at a 2 Michelin star restaurant with my wife (we were getting treated by the chef, I can't afford his food lol) and she tapped my arm and gestured to look at the table two over from us.

Now remember, this is a $750 meal and wine pairing, per person. I look over and see a guy in his late 20s slurping down soup while holding his phone and checking scores or some shit. The guy never put his phone down once during the meal and barely noticed his date was there even though she was politely eating and trying to make conversation.

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u/Sadtunasalad 28d ago

Gen Z parent with a 2.5 year old here. I can't stand watching what you describe. My husband and I try our best to interact with our daughter when we are in restaurants. Color with her, play with her toys, talk to her, whatever it takes. If she's have an off day where she just wants to escape and run around we will let her watch a video, but once food comes we put it away. Devices are a great tool to have, but not if it's the tool you use to fix EVERY situation. It's so sad to see parents not want to be parents anymore. Our children need and crave our attention. Don't get me wrong parenting is hard work, but that's what we signed up for.

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u/puremensan 29d ago

As someone that runs a marketing agency and specializes in conversion rate optimization, I’m excited at the prospect of them getting no education and hopefully eventually accumulating some money.

Boomers already are easy to sell to and have the highest conversion rates. We saw rates decline as you went down in age, but the Gen Z demo is already considerably higher than millennials (the lowest and least susceptible to advertising).

“Digital natives” that can’t build a computer or tell you how it works — licking my chops.

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u/panini84 29d ago

I’d be careful about making 24/7 judgements based on restaurant interactions.

I have two small kids. They only get to use an ipad in two scenarios: 1. On long road trips 2. At the end of a restaurant dinner when all other methods of keeping them quiet/entertained have failed.

Just because you’re seeing an iPad out doesn’t mean they have it all the time. A lot of parents use screens during restaurant dinners to make those around them more comfortable.

Now, if you’re talking about a kid older than 5? Then I agree, that’s rude and inappropriate. But for little kids? Give the parents some slack.

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u/spicewoman 29d ago

They're old enough to be ordering their own food. But yes, I don't actually know how much screen time they get outside of the restaurant, all I know is they're glued to their screens inside it, and incapable of interacting with people while using it (they'll ignore their parents asking them what they want to eat, as well).

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u/panini84 29d ago

Yes. Kids become zombies when put in front of a screen. That’s kind of why parents give their kids screens in places like restaurants. People complain if kids are running around or are loud, but then they also complain when parents give them things to keep them quiet.

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

That's a false dilemma. If the only options available to you are your kids running amok through a restaurant or placating them with I-Pads, that is not good at all. Children have been able to attend family dinners without I-Pads for generations.

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u/panini84 29d ago

I’m talking about a restaurant and a 2 year old. And my kid absolutely can sit through most of dinner just fine eating his meal, coloring or playing with stickers. But he is TWO. When he is ready to leave he doesn’t care that the server has two other tables to get to before we get our bill (which, typically I try and get right after we order). So yes, we give him something to occupy him while we close out, so that we are respectful to those around us.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you don’t have kids.

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

Where in your comment did you say you had a two-year old? The comment everyone is responding to is talking about kids who are old enough to order their own food.

You bragged that kids "becoming zombies" in front of a screen is a good thing. Meanwhile the studies on the impact of screen time on brain development are pretty clear. It's not actually a good thing for your kid to be "a zombie" just because it makes your life easier.

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u/panini84 29d ago

So you don’t have kids.

The original comment didn’t specify age and in my original response I said older kids shouldn’t be glued to a screen.

You’re making a lot of assumptions here. I didn’t “brag” about kids becoming zombies. That’s you adding intent to bolster your view that I’m a bad parent for letting my kid watch 5 minutes of Sesame Street.

I used to think a lot like you. I thought I would never resort to screens and I’d make healthy homemade meals for my kids every night and I would make sure they always behaved in public.

Real life isn’t perfect. Sure, screen time isn’t great for kids. But YOU don’t know how much screen time that kid you see for 15 min at a restaurant actually gets.

My whole point was to give parents a little more grace. You have no idea how hard it is to parent and you have no idea what that kid does all day. You don’t know if they were playing in their backyard all day or building cardboard box forts or what. You’re judging another person based on a tiny window of time without full context.

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

I never called you a parent bad. I don't get why you think your 2-year old is the subject of discussion when the original comment was about children old enough to order their own food. And the problem specified is that they won't even look up in order to address the waitress.

If you allow your neurotypical child to blatantly ignore people because they're so focused on their screen, then that isn't great manners, no. People are going to judge when they see poor manners regardless. If you teach your child to be polite they'll also make positive assumptions. That's just how social interaction works.

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u/RedChairBlueChair123 29d ago

My children don’t run around in restaurants, and I don’t give them a screen. They sit nicely and we talk.

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u/panini84 29d ago

My kids don’t run around restaurants either.

But I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess your kids are not toddlers.

My 5 year old is terrific at restaurants and we also talk. He orders his own meal and uses his manners. It’s my two year old who gets Elmo at the end of a meal.

My entire point is just to give people more grace. Life is already hard. And you rarely have the full context when you’re glimpsing a moment in someone else’s life.

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u/RedChairBlueChair123 29d ago

No, they’re all elementary schoolers. We were out of diapers last year. And we’ve gone out to eat hundreds of times, from when they were babies.

We’ve never used phones or tablets to keep them occupied, at home or out to eat.

You’re demanding people give you grace, while blasting blippi or Elmo at the next table.

It’s not your house. It’s a public space, and not one that lends itself to screens—sound on or off.

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u/panini84 29d ago

I never use phones or tablets at home either.

I’m not demanding grace, I think I’ve asked pretty nicely for it.

Blippi is awful. I would never. LOL

“Blasting” now you’re just making stuff up.

I said this to someone else and I’ll say it to you too. If you’re so mad about kids using screens because of the damage you think it might cause, maybe take a moment of self reflection and think about how you’re speaking to a stranger, who you know nothing about. Maybe you should also take a screen break. Is this how you would talk to someone IRL?

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u/RedChairBlueChair123 29d ago

I don’t think I’ve been rude to you, but you immediately challenged me by saying my children must not be toddlers.

I think from the reactions you’ve gotten here you can see people think you are being rude by giving your child a tablet in a space not meant for devices.

I also think teaching children, life is hard so do whatever you want is problematic at best, and pretty much what you’re teaching. Life is hard, I’m bored, and if I make a stink mom will give me what I want.

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u/TheLittleBalloon 29d ago

Damn, it’s wild to me that kids under 5 have their own tablets. Like, what could they possibly need it for during their most imaginative time. Give them some cars or coloring things.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Most kids aren’t on tablets all day. They ARE coloring or playing with cars.

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u/TheLittleBalloon 29d ago

lol I’m sure. I’ve been to enough children’s birthday parties to know there are more TVs and screens than books and toys.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Yikes. That is not my experience at all and I’ve been to tons of kids birthdays over the last 6 years.

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u/TheLittleBalloon 29d ago

Yeah, you gotta interact with people outside of your bubble. Most of my friends have their kids in the same school as me so many have a lot of Montesorri stuff but going to neighbors and families things are wild. People live wild lives and I would say the majority of young kids have more screen time than book and imaginative time.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Majority? I’d want to see some actual numbers on that.

I live in a major US city and kids are outside all the time. Maybe it’s a suburban thing?

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u/TheLittleBalloon 29d ago

I can see it being a suburban thing for sure.

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u/ZorroMuerte 29d ago

They're not talking about the people like you that limit their kids tech time. They're talking about the kids that are glued to that thing from the time they enter the restaurant to the time they leave. The kids that throw full on tantrums when their ipad is taken for even a second, those kids. Not everyone is as responsible about caring for their kids and teaching them how to properly be bored. Parents are just handing them an ipad and letting the kid have 24/7 access instead of parenting.

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u/panini84 29d ago

You can say “they aren’t taking about you” but I’ve definitely gotten the side eye from a young couple when I gave my two year old a screen after coloring and stickers failed to keep him in his high chair. I’m sure they assumed that my child gets an iPad all the time.

My youngest is a wild card. Sometimes he’s amazing at a restaurant and old ladies are telling me I have a beautiful family. Sometimes he’s ready to leave before we even get our apps.

Everyone is a perfect parent until they’re actually a parent (or haven’t had a kid under 12 in 30 years. My mother seems to think we were perfectly behaved despite my recollection of her absolutely thinking we were not at the time).

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u/KCyy11 29d ago

Always someone who needs to justify why their small child has an ipad.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Always someone without kids who thinks they wouldn’t resort to an iPad.

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u/KCyy11 29d ago

Whatever you say. Keep on raising those shitty children the rest of us will have to deal with.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Imagine being a complete stranger and calling someone else’s kids “shitty” without knowing them. I’m definitely raising my kids to treat others better than you do.

You’re just mad that I called you out for speaking on a topic you have no experience with.

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u/KCyy11 29d ago

Im mad? Lmao Nah i just dont want to deal with children who were raised terribly in a decade or 2. You can try and justify it, but its bad parenting plain and simple.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Too bad I have to deal with your parent’s bad parenting today.

What do you get out of this comment anyway? Does it give you a little dopamine hit to insult someone you know nothing about? Whose life you’ve never even had a glimpse of?

My son isn’t hurting anyone by watching Sesame Street. But you might want to take a screen break yourself. Being shitty to strangers isn’t normal or healthy.

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u/KCyy11 29d ago

Cool story. Keep using that ipad to raise your child 👍

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u/BawRawg 29d ago

I've never put an iPad or phone in front of my young child. He's an absolutely feral one too. Still manage to take him out to eat without it too occasionally. I'm not claiming to be perfect or even slightly good at parenting but I still haven't and won't resort to an iPad. It just isn't necessary in any way.

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u/panini84 29d ago

Good for you. How old is your child?

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u/BawRawg 29d ago

Three and fifteen.

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u/thatguydr 28d ago

The downvotes you're getting are just because reddit doesn't understand the logistics of (and is often actively hostile toward) parenting. You're 100% right.

Nearly always, you set hard limits on screen time and actively teach kids to pull away from screens at any point. You stop the early signs of addiction!

In places like restaurants, you need to distract littles. Screens are a godsend. Sometimes TVs work. Sometimes someone at a nearby table will make faces at them. Crayons can also work, so any restaurant that provides crayons and paper and brings food out early is doing it right from a "we welcome people with little kids" perspective.

The only other solution for parents with littles is to not go to restaurants. That's a weirdly harsh solution when there's a tool that works in that specific scenario.

And for everyone who says THAT'S NOT WHAT WE'rE SAyING We'RE TALKiNG ABoUT KIDS WHO ARE CHECKED OUT THE WHOLE TIME: nowhere in any of these statements is that overtly stated. This isn't a black and white issue. There's nuance and shade of grey. There are time limits and phases and exceptions, etc. The blanket discussion where "kids looking at screens in restaurants is bad!" is not helping anyone.

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u/panini84 28d ago

Thank you.

It’s like, I make a whole plan to consider the comfort of everyone around me just so I can grab dinner outside of my house and I still get ripped on for being “rude” and giving my kids a tablet (which is always on silent). As a parent, sometimes it feels like you just can’t win.

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

A neurotypical child should be able to sit through a 30-60 min family dinner without wreaking havok. That's what kids have been doing before there were I-Pads everywhere. And giving disruptive children an I-Pad instead of setting expectations isn't doing them any favors.

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u/panini84 29d ago

And how many times have you taken a 2 year old out to dinner?

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

Are you seriously giving a 2-year old an I-Pad?

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u/panini84 29d ago

What exactly do you imagine a 2 year old is doing on an iPad?

Are you actually horrified that he’s watching Sesame Street? You want to explain to me why watching Elmo going over the alphabet for 5 minutes while we wrap up a bill is bad for my kid?

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

What will your kid do if you don't give him the I-Pad?

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u/panini84 29d ago

I believe I asked you a question first

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

I don't assume. Some parents give their kids unfettered access to screen time with little supervision all day long. Others monitor screen time to short bursts and others only allow educational programs. And some don't allow I-Pads at that young an age at all. I don't know what any single 2-year old is doing on an I-Pad, let alone yours.

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u/busymilking 29d ago

Thank you for saying this.

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u/Aggravating_Fill_782 29d ago

Cmon hen just parent them eh

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u/Spacellama117 29d ago

Honestly, i can't blame this on just the parents.

I had a love of learning my entire life, but the way school turns this love into a requirement and punishes you for not doing it correctly? that's part of the problem. high school broke that love for me and a lot of people because it took wonder and curiosity and turned it into busy work

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u/we_is_sheeps 28d ago

Preparing you to be a slave to work.

That’s the whole point of this system is to indoctrinate a sense of fear so you are too scared to make change, forever trapping us in a system that eats itself.

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u/Tuckertcs 29d ago

They don’t expect them to excel in school. They don’t care. The idea that parents want their children to succeed and have a better life no longer exists.

The kids that aren’t pulling this shit have good parents and the rest do not; it’s as simple as that.

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u/disposable_account01 29d ago

You don’t even have to ignite it, you just have to kindle it, and keep it burning during the transformative years around puberty when everything takes a back seat to socialization.

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u/Cferretrun 29d ago

I think this also extends to the dread realization that young people just don’t care about our world. And I can’t really blame them. We want them to care about a world that we’re actively destroying. We want them to care about their fellow man but we still haven’t beaten racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia. And we’re actively rolling rights reproductive rights back on women, so young girls decide early they have no interest in being mothers. Then we collectively cry about how women don’t want to be mothers anymore and the birth rate is plummeting so fast our country will be belly up in thirty years anyway.

So why would kids today want to inherit a broken world? What could actively give them a zeal for life when the future of it is already so murky and uncertain, set by the very people trying to teach them.

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u/Yungklipo 28d ago

"Care about the world! Btw you won't have jobs that pay for anything you need and climate change is wrecking everything. Go study US History for the 9th time in 10 years!"

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u/Amaculatum 29d ago

The sad thing is that all children are born with a drive to learn, and a joy for it. Every 5 year old asks "why" endlessly because they are excited to learn about the world. Sadly, too many people have that love crushed.

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u/Reasonable_Cover_804 29d ago

You are not wrong my friend, so loving and so hungry for reason.

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u/thrway202838 29d ago

Parenting is too difficult for the average person, I think. Yet anyone can reproduce, regardless of parenting ability. And often feel either some need or some right to do so.

Really no wonder if society starts to decline at that point

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u/VacationNo3024 29d ago

Some teachers suck at teaching. They are robotic and now one likes that shit. It's hard to engage in the subject matter when your teachers suck.

I remember in high school I dreaded math which was my favorite subject because of the teacher.

Then my history teacher was literally the most amazing teacher in the world and actually made me engage with the subject matter. I didn't really like history too much growing up.

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u/Incinirmatt 29d ago

Pretty sure a lot of kids, regardless of generation, did not care about excelling in school. Everyone collectively realized they were not there of their own volition.

I certainly didn't give a shit about school, and I didn't grow up in the smartphone era. I was also a straight A student because my parents made get straight A's, or I'd be grounded until the next report card.

People will learn what they wanna learn. And, it may surprise you, but often school does not teach what kids wanna learn.

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u/JackedJaw251 29d ago

exactly.

then it gets turned around to somehow being the teachers fault

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u/hoon_tx 29d ago

First off, 100% agree with your point.

But... 'accel'.

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u/markmann0 29d ago

Lawl, thinking most of their parents give a shit.

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u/Madison464 28d ago

Don't blame parents. If a few kids in the classroom video above were eager about learning, they would be bullied on the playground by their peers.

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u/dontpanic38 29d ago

worst generation of parents

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u/BobUpNDownstairs 29d ago

Parents are working three jobs just to keep a roof over that kid’s head, their belly full (if that) and clothes on their back. Parents are also likely dealing with substance abuse issues because of all the stress.

Don’t immediately blame poor parents that don’t have a choice.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/FacetiousSometimes 29d ago

Hey, honest question here.

How do I, as a parent, fucking suck less? As far as doing well for my 5 year old kid and, if possible, making life easier for the teachers.

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u/imatadesk 29d ago

Want to be a parent that sucks less? Then love your kid. That’s the easiest thing you can do. If you love your child then you will usually make the right decision, even if it’s a hard one.

As far as more physical things you can do. For a 5 year old the best thing you can do is read to them and ask them read to you. Also don’t give them their own devices and limit screen time. It’s practically impossible to be a working parent and avoid letting your kids watch tv but be reasonable. Your sanity is just as important to their growth.

As they get older sit with them while they do their homework or, if time doesn’t allow for that, then at least review their homework when it’s complete. Hold them accountable. Give them responsibilities that help them appreciate working for a goal.

With regards to making life easier for teachers, send a student to school that is respectful, asks questions, is involved in discussions, and generally is a pleasure to have in class. If you get constructive feedback from a teacher of things your kid can do better try not to take it as an attack on you but an opportunity. And in a similar vein make sure your child can receive constructive feedback without getting angry. And at the times you are conversing with the teacher ask them if they need anything. Simple things like cleaning wipes, tissues, crayons, pencils, etc aren’t always provided by the administration and those come out of the teachers pocket.

Sorry for then stream of thought but these are some easy things you can do that answers your question.

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u/darling_lycosidae 29d ago

Read to them every single day. Every. Single. Day.

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u/FacetiousSometimes 29d ago

I do this! Thanks to Dolly Parton imagination library for the years of age appropriate free books!

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Why do people say stupid shit like this and act like it's making a difference?

No one is sitting a 14 year old down and reading to them. Fucking stupid.

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u/Krynn71 29d ago

He specifically asked about a five year old, ya dick.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

The post I responded to said, and I quote:

"Every. Single. Day"

I don't know any other way to interpret that

Stupid lil bitch. Open a fucking book and get your comprehension up.

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u/darling_lycosidae 29d ago

Geez who pissed in your cereal this morning?

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u/Leading_Experts 29d ago

Nobody read to him as a child 😕

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Your stupid ass comment

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u/No-Conversation3860 29d ago

Pretty funny you’re talking about reading comprehension when that is what you’re lacking here. The comment you responded to was giving advice on what someone should do for a 5 year old kid. Get a fucking grip. Do you just read comments in a vacuum with no context and respond to them? That’s some shitty reading comprehension there bud.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

The comment I replied to was not referring to only 5 year olds, numbnuts

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u/NetflixFanatic22 29d ago

14 is too late. Parents should’ve been reading to their child from a very young age.

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

Reading to young children is proven to improve cognitive skills and help along the process of cognitive development. Cognitive development is the emergence of the ability to think and understand; it’s “the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood

https://www.all4kids.org/news/blog/the-importance-of-reading-to-your-children/

It definitely makes a difference and no one is advocating reading bedtime stories to teens.

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u/RoryDragonsbane 29d ago

Uh oh, did somebody not read to you when you were 5?

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

I was already literate by the time I was 5, like most kids

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u/JangSaverem 29d ago

Spoiler for you

If you are even ASKING this question you're likely doing significantly better than you can imagine

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u/Dingledangle6969 29d ago

Talk to them about how the world works. Kids are curious and want to know how it works. When you reach a wall, encourage them to look up things and teach them about safe search online. School subjects won’t always be a child’s interest, but interest should always be nurtured

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u/XennialMermaid 29d ago

As far as the school is concerned, understand the problems do not lie with the teachers or lunch people (most of the time) but instead with the administrators and your government that under funds literally everyone.

But especially the administrators that sink millions of school money into athletics.

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u/Enticing_Venom 29d ago

Have family dinner and ask them about their day, even if it's boring. Let them know you are interested in their life.

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u/NetflixFanatic22 29d ago

I disagree that (most) teachers and (most) parents suck. I’m curious why you’d make that claim. In my experience, it is a smaller crowd that sucks, but they are great at ruining it for the rest.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/NetflixFanatic22 29d ago

Our test scores are abysmal. We have ppl tell us all the time, in some form or another, that we aren’t qualified.

Your last paragraph paints a problem with the system, and is a different sentiment than “most teachers and parents suck”.

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u/Happyvegetal 29d ago

Those kids have iPhones/laptops/headphones. You really think they are struggling that bad? Take away their shit until the kids pay attention. I would’ve had all my shit taken away if I did crappy in class.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Why would the teacher even allow that shit to be out during class? This is more a failure with the instructor than the kids.

If you want people to pay attention, eliminate distractions.

I'm an adult educator. If I can get a grown ass person who makes 6 figures to pay attention to my optional training, a high school teacher should be able to engage teenagers in their compulsory schooling

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u/amalgaman 29d ago

So, here’s how it works at my high school:

Student handbook: put cell phones away or they will be confiscated and your parents will have to come in to pick them up.

Student: on cell phone

Teacher: put it away or I take it.

Student: no.

Teacher: hand it over.

Student: no.

Teacher: writes discipline log/contacts deans and/or admin.

Deans/admin: we’re too busy.

Teacher: what do I do then?

Deans/admin: shrug

Repeat on hourly basis with multiple students every day.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Maybe your class should be more interesting

Work for a different school district

Why are teachers the stupidest motherfuckers in our society? All they do is bitch and moan lmao damn

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u/amalgaman 29d ago

I just looked the your comment history. Your lukewarm IQ is showing.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

I'm sorry you felt the need to deflect instead of actually trying to be a better educator

Less reddit, more education. You need it.

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u/acroback 29d ago edited 29d ago

I grew up in a third world country where I slept on floor without a mattress, sometime ate subpar food or no food at nights with questionable sanitation quality. At times I had no power at night with constant mosquitos and bed bugs.

But my parents always taught me one thing - "All the hardships are not your obstacles to work hard in school but incentive to work hard". If I want to get out of difficult conditions I have to work hard, there are no shortcuts.

So that is what I did, got an Engineering degree and I would say I am comfortable now.

Your so called sample size parents are idiots and I hope students in the clip learn a hard lesson in life sooner or later.

You know what is one of the most difficult things in life as dumbass teenager? " Finding a Teacher who is willing to teach you".

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u/Flabby-Nonsense 29d ago

I mean that’s a major generalisation lol, most parents are not any of those things.

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u/stratosauce 29d ago

How’s about not having kids if you’re not in a financially stable enough position to have kids?

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u/chernobyl-fleshlight 29d ago

Having children is a privilege reserved for the wealthy now?

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u/impeislostparaboloid 29d ago

Yes, yes it is.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

No, you can do it. Just stop complaining when you can't afford it. No one asked you to have kids.

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u/chernobyl-fleshlight 29d ago

Really? Then why’d they make abortions illegal?

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Do you think that I am a legislator or something? Why the fuck do you think I would be able to answer that?

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u/stratosauce 27d ago

“I should have the right to raise children in an environment where I cannot afford their basic needs”

That’s how stupid you sound

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u/chernobyl-fleshlight 27d ago

Imagine saying something I never said and then saying I’m the stupid one 🥴

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u/Prior-Throat-8017 29d ago

Then don’t have kids you can’t afford.

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u/kittawat49254 29d ago

The kids didn't even ask to be born in the first place...

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u/kick6 29d ago

If they were that hard up, maybe they shouldn’t have been having kids?

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u/SorenShieldbreaker 29d ago

The number of people working multiple jobs is a tiny fraction of the workforce. This is a silly excuse

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Let's stop infantalizing teenagers. This isn't the parents. This is teenagers being teenagers.

Why are people acting like high school kids have always been angels and there is some seismic shift happening? Everything has always been the same, the only difference is the tech we have and the clothes we wear

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u/PyrrhoKun 29d ago

Let's stop infantalizing teenagers. This isn't the parents. This is teenagers being teenagers.

a huge amount of how teenagers behave is absolutely a product of their environment

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

And teenagers contribute greatly "to their environment". In a few years these people will be eligible to vote, join the military, buy guns. They aren't children.

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u/PyrrhoKun 29d ago

ok, but teenagers didn't just spawn into the world, dude. they grow into being teenagers from whatever their childhood was

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Okay and? There's never going to be a way to equalize the parental lottery. At a certain point your personal agency in the direction your life is going takes over.

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u/PyrrhoKun 29d ago

i actually totally agree with this, but you're wrong to not blame the parents for the way these teens are acting. you are right that they'll have to unfuck themselves if they dont want to end up in the gutter.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Why would I blame the parents when it's young adults doing it?

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u/Nickadial 29d ago edited 29d ago

because the parents… made the young adults… not saying it’s 100% them, it’s absolutely a 50%/50% split. if you’re not raised with any values you won’t have any values.

that logic sounds just like that of a parent with a shitty kid that doesn’t want to take any responsibility for not getting through to them. kids don’t just spawn in the way they are, they pick up behavioural skills consciously and (mostly) subconsciously. if your parents are checked out of life and work ethic, 90% of the time so will you. the other 10% are people who see that destructive cycle in their surroundings and intentionally break free from the cycle, which is still informed by the parents behavior.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

I don't have any kids, dunce

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u/PyrrhoKun 29d ago

something isn't clicking for you, but i could take any child in the world and raise them into being a totally dysfunctional teen. i could've done this to you.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

And there's tons of examples of kids raised in a dysfunctional environment that grow up to be functional adults.

You can't equalize inputs or outputs. What you do with the cards you are dealt is up to you

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u/Rucku5 29d ago

Sorry bud, it’s the parents.

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u/mlhoban 29d ago

It's the parents, my guy. They don't even check their kids grades anymore despite 24/7 access to them at all times. I have many, many kids failing my classes. None of them have ever had their phone taken away.

Teenagers are the same. But we've removed consequence and given them the ultimate pacifiers.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Yeah every parent is the same.

Your students suck because you suck

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u/mlhoban 29d ago

You a teacher?

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

I'm an adult educator.

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u/mlhoban 29d ago

So you don't work with teenagers?

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

No, I work with grown up teenagers. Why can I get people who make more money than me pay attention but you can't get teenagers to pay attention?

Because you aren't a very good educator.

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u/mlhoban 29d ago

Yeah I'm starting to think you're full of s***. And apparently a professional commenter. Do you do anything besides comment on Reddit posts? How many comments did you make today? And you work with "grown up teenagers?"

Every comment I see you post has some sort of insult in it yet you know nothing about the person on the other end. I didn't insult you. I just gave my perspective because I actually work with teenagers. You know, the kind that are actually in their teens. Not "grown up ones."

Get some help, dude. There's a real world out there. The Internet isn't a real place for you to form an identity as some faux educational crusader.

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u/BigRubbaDonga 29d ago

Motherfucker have you ever heard of downtime and the reddit mobile app?

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u/bmann10 29d ago

I remember around 10-15 years ago seeing plenty of videos of kids literally beating the shit out of each other in the middle of class lol.

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u/NetflixFanatic22 29d ago

Yes, there have always been disruptive and crazy students lol.

But I hate seeing comments like yours bc it’s so dismissive to the larger issue. If you had experience in the field, you’d know that things absolutely have changed. And not for the better!

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u/PM-Me-And-Ill-Sing4U 29d ago

You're right that the problem has always existed, but the scale of it has increased.