ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Teens Are Our Future- Oh My!

Updated on August 7, 2011
Source

The Passive Parent and The Entitled Teen

In the midst ofAmerica’s deficit, we fall to the fate of today’s children to pull us through. Specifically, we will rely on today’s teenagers to drive this economy, develop new businesses, and to vote in the next presidential election. Today’s teenagers have a rough road ahead of them and a huge obligation to this generation. It is uncertain if they have what it takes, or if we will continue to struggle for the next ten years. We must look at this generation of “entitled teens” to determine our fault, as parents and as a society, or we will never thrive as a nation.

Teens demanding, “I want what I want, when I want it, and you owe it to me”, has been a parenting nightmare for several years. It is this “entitlement” attitude that has plagued this generation and has had parents pulling their hair out. What is it and how did it happen?

“The entitled adolescent expects her parents--and the culture at large--to provide her with everything from opportunities to I-pods, with no strings attached. Our culture’s conspicuous consumerism and propensity for instant gratification, along with the media and myriad technologies, have helped to create an environment in which our teenagers have developed lofty expectations”.

Parenting Styles

Past generations grew up with structure, respect, and discipline. Granted, today we have many single parent- working homes as well as two parent- working homes that largely contribute their teen's attitude. It is suggested that the overcompensating for loss time with gifts or other means of competition is "spoiling our children"; the act of just "being" is rewarded versus the act of achieving or doing something. In addition, this generation of parents feel more apathetic to their children, but don't offer guidance and teaching to establish the ability to deal with these emotions or situations. Lastly, with parents absence comes the feeling that most teens have of being unseen, unwanted, and unsupervised. They can do whatever they want, so why can't they have what ever they want?

"Don't Be Mean To My Kid"

This generation parents have been titled "passive". Passive, because we try to smother our children, protect them from harm, and protect them from a feeling of loss, rejection, or disappointment. Unfortunately, this is part of the learning, growing, and dealing that we need to instill in our children. These life skills are necessary to prepare our children for relationships, for the workforce, or for when they have children of their own.

Social and Media Roles

In the midst of an economic crisis, teens are encouraged to be all "glammed up" and partying it up. Of course, we can't ignore the show, "My Sweet Sixteen". The epitome of what is wrong with our teens today. Social and media roles play a part in the influence of the "entitlement" teen.

What Can We Do?

The entitled teen suffers from one or more of these contributors. Boundaries with repercussions, failures and perseverance, as well as encouragement for their achievements should be a parent's focus for their teen. Preparing your child for life's ups and downs is what a parent does. "I would like to be your friend, but I for your sake, I have to be your parent". Set your teen up for success and for the success of our nation.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)