This generation of kids are different, allegedly, people are noting the lack of respect for authority figures, how behaviour has changed in schools and outside. This generation is unlike any before it.
This generation has grown up in the shadow of a global pandemic, watching the very people who made the rules break them.
They were told to stay home, miss milestones, miss friends, miss normality while those in power faced no real consequences for not following their own guidance.
They’ve watched scandal after scandal unfold across the world, now Epstein and their famous idols, from actors to singers, to public figures, all falling like a house of cards one after the other.
They’ve seen headlines about powerful people accused of horrific things. They’ve seen investigations, files released, names whispered and again, very little accountability.
They are growing up in a world where trust in leadership feels fragile at best.
And then we act surprised when they question authority.
When they challenge systems,
When they struggle with respect for institutions that haven’t modelled integrity.
Is it really shocking that this generation feels different?
They are more exposed.
More aware.
More politically and socially conscious than we ever were at their age.
All that information in theor hands at the touch of a button instantly. They are not as sheltered as prior generations as a result. Not as insular in their communities.
They have seen behind the curtain at an earlier age.
If behaviour has changed, maybe it’s because belief has changed, Belief in fairness,
Belief in justice.
Belief that the adults in charge will actually lead by example.
We are not raising a “worse” generation.
We are raising a generation that has witnessed hypocrisy in real time.
Maybe instead of asking what’s wrong with the children, we should be asking what they’ve witnessed laid out infront of them…
Because children don’t grow in a vacuum.
They grow in the world already shaped for them, and now that feels like it means nothing.
Anyone else thinking this?
(Adapted from a shared post on fb)