More on Pints of View-Sunday 16th November at The Merry Hill 7.30 onwards

More on Sunday's topic.

Exasperating and Encouraging Young People

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children” Ephesians 6:4

With the economy in nosedive, basing the evening’s discussions on issues surrounding the young may seem odd. Even more, hosting the event in a pub, thus excluding from the audience the majority of young people, again is a decision that from a number of perspectives is highly questionable! But issues surrounding the young relate far more closely to what are considered “adult” matters than we first think.

Take for example the disturbing Unicef research that Britain has the unhappiest young people in the Western World http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6359363.stm. What does that tell us about our culture? Similarly youth crime rates continue to rise http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/01/justice.ukcrime. As do teenage pregnancy rates http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1543596/Sharp-rise-in-under-16-pregnancy-rates.html. These things are hardly signs of an entirely confident and socially engaged youth culture. They also tell us something about our wider culture. Each of these issues raises challenging cross-generational questions about our culture.

But what causes this disaffection amongst the young?

Within this, the usual suspects of “consumerism”, “economic changes” and the “decline of traditional values” all play their part. However on their own they can’t entirely explain away why British children are so unhappy compared to children on the continent. It’s not as if the countries at the top of the list Holland and Sweden have a shortage of Wii ownership amongst their young. Or have not also had to undergo the huge social upheaval caused by the decline of traditional industries across Europe. And to put things mildly neither country is famous for social conservatism (though I acknowledge national cliché’s and reality are rarely the same thing).

Also its not as if the UK’s adult population is particularly happy either! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4771908.stm

The usual left and right wing Bogey Men do not tell the whole story. Other things must also be going on to cause these phenomena. There should be no shortage of areas to explore in the discussion!

However before this blog becomes a council of doom, we should not assume that it is all hopeless. The subject matter is by no means inaccessible or wholly negative. There are lots of positive avenues to explore.

For instance from a Christian perspective there is an understanding that adults have an influence and with that a responsibility to engage and encourage the next generation. Paul wrote to dads in Ephesus in the 1st century something that is equally valid for dads in 21st century Wolverhampton (and mums, uncles, aunties, grandparents, neighbours, teachers, employers and politicians for that matter):

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord”. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=56&chapter=6&version=31

Paul sees a clear link in how we as adults relate to young people and its affects on their social, moral and spiritual welfare. The key phrase in all this is “Do not exasperate your children”. Do not make them feel useless and isolated from you (and society). What is the opposite of exasperation? Encouragement. We should seek to encourage young people, make them feel wanted and part of society. We have a responsibility to do this.

And it’s with examples of how people are successfully engaging with and encouraging young people that I want to end this blog. There are numerous examples of this. Whether it is employers engaging with young people http://www.eef.org.uk/UK/mediacentre/mediareleases/birmingham/1/Goodrich_employee_wins_Year_in_Industry_award.htm. Vulnerable young people getting protection http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what_you_can_do/donate/other_ways_to_give/West_Midlands_Community_Sponsor/project_perspective/8854.html. Or disaffected young people getting the help they need to boost their confidence and re-engage with a wider community http://www.wolvcoll.ac.uk/princes_trust/index.html. There are plenty of examples of how young people can be successfully encouraged. And perhaps it’s in understanding what works in encouraging young people that we will get to the root causes of what it is about our culture that is currently exasperating so many of our young people?

SEE YOU THERE. Sunday 16th 7.30-9 the Merry Hill