Fear Of Young People
A professor says adults are increasingly frightened and suspicious of youngsters. Now get the hell off my lawn.
United Kingdom - Children are being demonized because society suffers from ephebiphobia, or the fear of youth, a clinical psychologist claimed yesterday.
Professor Tanya Byron, who has presented TV programs about children’s behavior, said adults were increasingly frightened and suspicious of youngsters. But this only drives them to play up to their wayward reputations.
She said Britain’s youngsters were often perceived as being among the most unhappy and unhealthy in Europe, with problems over obesity, alcohol and teenage pregnancy.
A trend towards ephebiphobia - from the Greek ephebos, meaning youth - was partly to blame. Parents have become so fearful of other children they raise their own “in captivity,” keeping them “cooped up indoors” instead of allowing them outside, Dr Byron said.
However, youngsters may face greater risks from using the internet at home than they would playing outside with friends.
Dr Byron, who presented the House of the Tiny Tearaways and Little Angels on TV and carried out a Government inquiry on the effects on children of video games and the internet, said that fear of young people was “more prevalent than ever.”
“But this fear and suspicion are counterproductive. If you tell someone they are a failure enough times, they will be. If you blacken the reputations of the many by the actions of the few, you discriminate.”
She added, “As a society, we make it very difficult for young people to just be young people. We appear to feel threatened by a phase in life that is all about challenging and identity formation.”
Dr Byron said there were undoubtedly some “hideously behaved” youngsters, and classrooms where “staff are terrorized.” But she added, “If you suggest that they are vulnerable and need understanding and support, you are labeled a wet liberal.
“After many years working with some of the most aggressive and destructive children in the country, my views are as clear as the evidence.
“We fear young people. We stigmatize young people. We discriminate against young people. Children need boundaries and authority.
“But they will only respect if they are respected, will only learn if their strengths and needs are individually understood, and will only strive if they feel valued and encouraged.”
She added, “So worried are we by stories of bad behavior that we become hyperprotective towards our own children, raising them almost in captivity, cooped up indoors, while letting them do their socializing and risk-taking in the unregulated spaces of the internet.”
Image: This may be how most adults see teenagers
Author: Laura Clark
Source - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
