Why do kids go off the rails

[pantsonfire321@aol.com]

???

I'm curious to hear from other people on this one, because my daughter has never given me any problems . Shes a great kid ,polite, funny, clever did excellent at school ..... had a job since she was 13 (started as a Saturday girl in a Pet shop ) . Maybe because i never let her roam the streets like most kids now-a-days do.

She lost her father at a very young age but still ..never any problems .



From what i've seen of other kids its all gangs and Drugs and getting off their faces and being anti social . And then you hear stories about kids killing kids and kids having kids . So is it a lack of parental care or not being afraid of the concequences . I know not all kids are bad but the bad ones seem to be giving the good ones a bad name.

[jennyswan]

Well if I compare it to my own growing up, I think it does have a lot to do with the parents as well. If you're let out to roam the streets at night and don't have any rules it's easier to get into trouble and get involved with these things. I think it also has something to do with personality too though and you can't blame the parents for everying. Some people are just more easily led then others and have more of a feeling of needing to be part of a group.

Me for example: I had loads of friends, was big into school sports and always played by the rules.

My sister: Would never come home on time, tried the drinking and smoking thing etc.

We were raised in the same household with the same rules.

My mother was broken hearted from going out looking for her, where as I just wasn't interested in the drinking and being rowdy thing. It wasn't even that I thought she was bad or anything, just different. I think she thought I was a goody two shoes where as I have my vices too. It's just I never felt like I had to be how others way just to fit in.

[RedGlitter]

I'm not sure it can be pegged on either of those; parents or consequences.

I think more we have evolved/are evolving into a less compassionate species in the same way animals undergo physical mutations.

I wish there were some way of acquiring valid numbers as to how many kids e are bad vs. good, so we'd have a jumping off point.

I personally know two guys, one 17 and one 18 who are more on the ball than many adults I know. They help others without thinking, they recycle and care about the environment, they help animals, are good to their parents. One joined the National Guard reserves and one is going to go to college to become a veterinarian. The last one got a full scholarship. They've never been in trouble although one boy has a tweaker mom. (A meth user)

As for the bad ones and your question though, I think it's a mark of the time we live in. Adults can be just as bad but we see it in kids probably because kids are our magnifier. We live in a violent, compassionateless,greedy, selfish, impatient society and I think our kids reflect that.

[along-for-the-ride]

I think part of it is rebellion and questioning the "status quo". Unfortunately, this can be part of the "growing up" process. Unfortunate because this can be harmful.

Young people don't look that far into their future at this point. They want to be accepted by their peers. They want to experience new feelings, sometimes with drugs, sometimes with sex. This has been going on for ages. This ofcourse is not true for all young people.

Sometimes you think all 21 year-old people should wear a badge that proclaims "I survived my teen years." And their parents wear a badge as well that proclaims, "I am a parent of a child who survived the teen years."