Accountability

My wife and I went shopping today in downtown Frankston Victoria. We've lived on the peninsula our entire married life and we love it here. The beaches are very good, we're close to the 'holiday' spots of Rye and Portsea and we're within thirty minutes of the winery region with its abundant fine wines and excellent restaurants. The only thing about living in Frankston that we don't like is the number of teens who appear to have no manners or respect for others let alone themselves. This afternoon we watched two girls and a boy (teenagers) sitting outside one of the shops in one of the many arcades. The language on all three was explicit and the boy took great delight in talking of his sexual expolits. The girls giggled at his 'story-telling' and added bits and pieces of (we presume) their own expolits. He was dressed in new board shorts but was wearing no top. The girls were in bikini tops and mini skirts. My wife said that her father would never have let her leave the house in costumes like that and I know that I would never have walked the streets without a shirt on. We had to wait in their vicinity while we were collecting a cake we had ordered for our daughter Jade's 12th birthday. We didn't watch them or stare but it was very easy to hear what theywere saying because of the sheer volume they used. We collected the cake and as we walked away I said to my wife "You know what I would like to give those three for a new year's gift?" She replied that she knew exactly what I meant and she added that if all parents today took a somewhat 'firmer' approach to disciplining their children then society might just have a chance of successful and safe survival. I agreed with her and mentioned that schools (read the 'Education Department') are also to blame. It really is or can be that simple. You can't reason with a child (and by 'child' I mean a person having not reached 18 years of age) if they stubbornly refuse to listen or be guided. You could talk until you are blue in the face but today's teens (the majority we have met or have seen) seem to do what they want, where they want and when they want. They don't appear to have the same values we were raised with and they care only about being popular and getting what they want which may they sound like two admirable traits but when it can come at the expense of the comfort of others then it's time we did something.