2_THE YOUNG and THEIR WORLD

2_THE YOUNG and THEIR WORLD

1. TEENAGERS

   • Teenagers are neither children nor adults. They want to live independently. Most of them attend secondary schools and prepare themselves for future professions. They spend most of time at school or studying for the following school day. In their leisure time they like getting together with their friends, listening to music, playing computer games and going to parties and discos. Most of them live with their parents, help in the house and are given some pocket money.
   • Physical changes Forming personality Easily influenced Experiment ( alcohol, drugs, cigarettes) Moody, tetchy, absent minded, lazy, impulsive,...

2. YOUNG PEOPLE

   • Young people prefer to wear brand name clothing, girls are careful about their make-up and hairstyle. Young people have the access to all the modern inventions. They cannot imagine thier lives with mobile phones and the Internet. They lokk for the information they need, use Internet banking, shop on-line. Young people know thieir rights well. Older people usually consider them cheeky and impolite. Discipline in the families is not as strict today as it used to be in the past. Young people do not trust the authorities and prefer the relationships with their peers.
   • Young people are well-educated, experienced and self-confident. They have a lot of opportunities to study or work abroad. Many young people start their families later. They work on their career first and get married in their thirties. Young people often struggle to fit into the society. They face the problems like unemployment which sometimes leads to youth crime, addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, teenage pregnancy, conflicts with older generation (generation gap). Good parents try to show sympathy and understanding towards their children in trouble.
   • CHARACTERISTICS ( look, style,hobby)
     • Young people are careful about their look, image. They prefer to wear brand name clothing (designers´ clothing) and they are always trying to look good and sexy, even if they’re just spending their free time with friends. Girls are careful about their makeup and hairstyle, boys use aftershave or cologne. Young people are usually optimistic, happy, friendly, experienced and curious, however, some of them can be rude, impolite, moody (especially teenagers), tricky, lazy, careless. 
 Interests – getting together with friends, parties, PC, TV, books, dating, sports, and disco.

3. JOBS

   • Job opportunities are better than in the past, especially in big cities. There are many possibilities also for teenagers to take a part-time job and save some money. We have a lot of job centers or employment offices where you can find a good job, you only have to want it. Many young people today start their own families later than their parents did. Many work on their career first and get married in their thirties. Young families share house chores and it is nowadays common that husband share chores or take a maternity leave if the wife’s job is better paid.

4. GENERATION GAPS

   • Many of young people, especially teenagers have some conflicts with their parents. Young people became more revolutionary and they often criticize their parents´ conservative lifestyle. They complain that they don’t have enough freedom that parents interfere too much into their business. They don’t like when their parents criticize their friends, clothes or hairstyle. They think parents are underestimate them, and they also complain that they don’t have enough pocket money, or that they are not allowed to come home later. On the other hand, parents and generally older generation thinks that they are rude, impolite, use rude and abusing language, they don’t study enough and have bad marks. Then they complain that youth doesn’t respect older generation and that they don’t think about their future, they are irresponsible and unreliable, lazy, they listen to a deafening music and wear an awful clothes.
   • However, many parents have less and less time for their children. There are also families in which children and parents do not talk about their problems. Such children often feel isolated. In extreme cases, they run away from home thinking that the problem will be solved this way. They are also neglected, stressed out, verbally or psychically abused or sometimes kicked out. ( Children can call help lines.)

5. BAD THINGS in teenagers' lives ( violence, drugs, gambling)

   • Parents usually don’t want their child to try things like smoking or drinking alcohol. But children are keen on trying new things, especially those that they are not allowed . Nowadays, there is not a problem to get some cigarettes, alcohol or even drugs. In this way, the most dangerous are discos or parties, where is huge amount of alcohol and even drugs, there are always some „more experienced“, which have the „material“. The child can become addicted also because of family background, the parents who don’t really care about their child and they smoke or drink, too. It’s always up to the influence of the family background, odd friendships and society generally.
   • Early teenage pregnancy have a negative effect - teenagers are not emotionally mature enough to bring up children and they are financially dependent from their parents.