The Challenges.
Young people are really up against it in today’s society. Everything has become so hurried, rushed and frantic. Fast Wi-Fi, phones, exams, jobs, hobbies. We have our kids rushing from one activity to another. Where’s the down time, where’s the time to sit and just be?
In school everything is geared up for the leaving cert, from the time they start secondary school, it’s like everything hinges on the results. If you don’t get good results you are somehow a failure. Is this really the message we want to give our young people? Should this expectation be put on them from such a young age? When did it become a crime to not excel at everything? At 17 I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I didn’t go to college until I was in my thirties and I’m doing OK!
The teen years are a time of pushing boundaries, rebelling against adults and experimentation. The explosion of the internet has exposed our young people to porn and online gambling something other generation didn’t have to contend with. Our young people are growing up in a time of social media, video games, constant advertising and reality TV. Celebrities seem to set the standard to aspire to.
So, in this ‘fake’ virtual world how can we protect our young people from alcohol? The alcohol industry is big business which has a huge marketing campaign portraying itself as glamourous, fun and normal. Truth be known parents can’t really protect our teens from that unless we turn off the TV, internet and radio.
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