that think they have a brand new idea as what to do for teenagers to keep them out of trouble.
I'm watching the umpteenth generational rerun of 'Let's give them a place to hang out under the watchful eye of an adult'. Here we go again.
First of all let's look at what kind of kid it draws. It draws the kind of kid that doesn't mind having some dopey grownup look over his shoulder while he does something fairly harmless like crafts or whatever.
Those kids don't need a place like that because left to their own devices they won't get into any real trouble to begin with.
Of course the real troublemakers are the kids they should be catering to but there's no way in hell they're going to hang out supervised. Most likely it they do show up they'll promptly get kicked out by some suburban housewife. Of course the instant the adult supervision leaves the troublemakers swarm in and use it as a base of operations to deal drugs in.
I've seen this in my lifetime since the 50s and it generally is a fairly short lived waste of time and money. Eventually the place closes and the grownups return to grownup land and find other things to do to try and fight off old age and make themselves feel relevant.
What's funny is that it seems every generation of moms comes up with this bright idea and thinks they are the first person on the planet to think of it.
Sometimes I think this kind of thing goes back to the ancient Egyptians but it probably doesn't. They kept the kids busy back then by making them do something useful like building a pyramid or something like that. The best I can figure it's a post WW2 thing.
Of course they sometimes turn into a meeting place where kids meet up to go elsewhere. I used to do that. I'd walk in give a couple of guys 'the look' and we'd all bug out together and head off to do something.
It did serve as an excuse to get out of the house and away from the parents and meet up with skulldugerous friends.
What was funny about this is there were always a couple of kids that were slick enough to use it as a base of operations to sell pot out of. I wasn't a pothead but I knew how the system worked. You'd walk in, give the seller the high sign on the way into the bathroom and wait until he showed up. There you would make the deal and wander out and slither off into the darkness.
Many of the parents the parents that manned these places seemed to be woman that were fighting middle age. They wanted to think they were still one of the cool kids. Others were the kind of parent that wants to be their kids friend instead of doing their job as parents.
I always got a kick out of one of the women at our hangout. She was in her 40s and age was beginning to creep up on her. She'd show up in bell-bottom hip huggers which looked ridiculous on her.
Much of this business is often a feel-good thing for the parents. They want to do something that makes them feel good about themselves.
One of the few programs that actually seemed to work was none other than the Old School Boy Scouts of the 50s and 60s. It was outdoors oriented and a lot of kids liked it.
A lot of scout leadership at the time came from WW2 veterans and they were generally pretty good. They did a pretty good job of keeping us outside and active. They were all pretty practical guys.
A lot of motivation of scout leadership back then was simply giving back to the community. They brought a lot of true life experiences along with them. Most of them knew tools and knew men.
Of course, if you know men you know boys because boys are just small men when you think about it. They treated us like men and we grew into manhood as a result.
Some of them were real characters.
Scouting seems to have gone downhill over the years and it's a shame.
Still, I just read somewhere that there is now a new and improved place to keep the kids off the streets and out of the pool halls and from what I can figure it's just going to be a rehash of a rehash of a rehash.
It's not going to change anything.
Mom's today who hover over their children are called "helicopter" parents. sr
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