It's soooo unfair!...

I dunno the yoof of today! They just hang around intimidating old grannies and younger kids. What are we going to do with them? They get worse every year and society is to blame for the lower moral standards we see all around us. What bullshit! It's the same as it ever was. Older people just forget what it's like to be young, especially their teenage years. I'm pleased that the young people from Tonbridge schools have spoken out about the way they have been warned away from the play area at Tonbridge park (see the Courier page 3 this week.) I happen to know that at least one of the girl's schools in the town has told its children not to hang around the park after school because of the complaints by some parents of younger children who are feeling unable to get access to the equipment (Presumably because they're afraid to ask a 14 year old if they'd mind awfully if their toddler can have a go on the swings!) In my experience older folks are scared not by teenagers but by the popular media image of a hoody-wearing teenager, with knife concealed in jeans pocket ready to stab anyone at the mere mention of their spotty faces. Come off it, we live in Tonbridge, not Down Town Brooklyn for goodness sake. In any case where would these moaners have the teenagers go? There are precious few youth clubs and clubs for under 18s, There's really only McDonalds, the new shake bar, the street and oh yes the park. They are right when they say there should be a skate park and other facilities robust enough for their not quite adult, lumbering bodies. Why haven't these been provided when so much money has been squandered elsewhere? My guess is as good as their's. You see for a teenager it's a long time from year 8 to the day when you're alowed to legally enter a pub. Quite frankly, the lack of decent facilities is probably the main reasons why they turn to drinking and worse. Teenagers will always want to hang out with each other and share experiences, get things off their chests, tell their friends how unfair life is. So for Pete's sake give them places in which to do it, realise that actually they're just young people who like to be with their own kind. And, Old Fogies, just stop whining about it because, if you were their age you'd be doing the same thing!,,,