Quote Originally Posted by MetEdDawg View Post
I'll answer you and IronDawg here. It's multi faceted really. And it's long. Sorry.

1) The amount of violence kids are exposed to now has numbed them to reality. It's one thing to own a gun or be exposed to guns and hunting as a kid. It's an entirely different animal when we have 7 year olds playing first person shooter games for 4-8 hours a day. And kids are being exposed to more adult content than ever before. The disciplines I see at middle and younger grades used to be high school only behavior. It's shocking what comes to us now and I am in a city that would not be one that you would expect to see situations like that.

2) Bullying. It's real folks. And there are too many parents out there that have no clue what their kids are doing/saying or deny it's an issue. I had a parent of a 7th grader ask me to change the discipline code for her student off bullying because she was afraid it would affect her getting in to Harvard in the future. Talk about completely detached from reality. And it's everywhere. It's written, verbal, on social media, through friends, etc. Bullying takes up a significant portion of my job almost every day.

3) Social media/personal technology. As a parent and an AP, I implore you to hold back cell phones and social media access for as long as you physically can. 10 year olds aren't responsible enough to have a cell phone and manage social media. They aren't. They use it in negative ways. I can't tell you how many parent conversations I've had where a child was bullied or participated in bullying on social media, but when I suggested taking away or limiting their child's social media access, they said that was unfair to their child.

4) Lack of understanding of how to form relationships (both parents and kids). I have parents of middle schoolers that will call me because they want me to tell a group of kids that they should be friends with their child. It baffles me that there are people out there that want an adult to force other students to be friends with their child. In middle school.

5) Overmedication. This is bad. Every kid has ADHD. Every kid has anxiety. Every kid needs a plan that includes extra time to do things. There are some kids that need medication. But the cocktails some students are on is dangerous.

6) Parents babying their kids. Some of these kids have never faced any adversity. Parents try to move the stumbling blocks instead of teach their kids how to deal with difficult circumstances. Have an issue with a kid? Move them out of class or pull them to remote learning. Having a tough day or not prepared for a test? Oh I'll just come check you out.

So there in a nut shell are some of the bigger concerns I see. The biggest problems we are seeing are that many of our students are experiencing three or more of these things simultaneously. And it's growing tepidly how many of these kids are having to see and face adult problems. Not enough problem solving skill development and too much rescuing.
Met - this is some good stuff. My kids are now 22 and 20, and my oldest has diagnosed problems with anxiety and depression, most of which manifested itself more in college then in high school. It's just flat out tough these days. I'd like to say that we have been good parents and built a solid foundation for both of them, but it hasn't been easy. Each one of the things you point out are items we had to stay on top of and engaged in.

Something else I would point out are the external pressures to excel and have your life mapped out by the time you are 12. If you aren't in travel ball by 12, you won't be able to make your Middle School team. Dance or cheer? You have to be in an expensive Company spending thousands and competing across the SE or you won't be any good. Want to get into UGA? You have to have multiple extra curriculars, create a non-profit to impact your community, start new inclusive program at your high school, and make a 1450 on the SAT with a 4.2 GPA from all the AP or IB classed your took, and know that you want to take your Degree in Biology, go to grad school at XXX, then come back to the Georgia coast and work a $28,000 a year job with a non-profit studying the impact of snails on salt marsh degradation. No way I could have handled that pressure, nor would I have had the ability to map all that out at 12 or 13. I barely figured it out at 22 in grad school.

I know a lot of people have negative opinions on todays kids - but the impact of this hype-competitive approach has many kids equating not achieving at those levels as failure. That is an incredibly difficult process to deal with as a parent and it creates an enormous amount of anxiety with kids.