I do agree with this view. Most people I know of my generation did have very bad things going on when they were kids, but somehow we were tough enough to deal with them, although they do still affect us, obviously. We never expected to be given things on a plate, we were brought up to think for ourselves, and to be versatile, and figure out our own ways of coping.

Yes, children now are often organised so much – to fit into a system – but it is becoming obvious that there are things wrong with that system, so perhaps we should be helping our young people become more able to cope with challenges and changes instead of channelling them into specialisesd paths quite so much.

By the way, we had 2hrs of homework time every day right through high school – because I was at boarding school there was no choice but to go to the homework period between supper and lights out – not to say that I actually DID homework though – I mostly wrote poetry instead!

I used to swim 50 olympic lengths before school and before dinner every day, and do long distance running – but it was all very definitely MY choice to do these thngs. I think I still had some time to muck about with my friends, but I only got to see my parents one weekend a month from age 11 – I used to spend most of those weekends wandering about in the wilderness though, so it must have been when I was much younger that the free thinking and versatility stuff was instilled in me – unless I was just born that way.

“Agencies might like to use this concept, however, parents may also like to use some of these ideas at home.
Ideally this would be done as a week away, in a country house setting, enabling an amazingly meaningful transition into adulthood through a powerful blend of ancient and modern wisdom, including diverse creative exploration and personal development concepts.
To include sections on: identity & belonging, communication, exercise, healthy diets, finance, responsibilities, relationships, environment, feelings, and purpose or aims in life.
Working with young people – taking them away in the early stages of teenage-hood, to do an “Initiation into Adulthood” week, which would include a wide range of activities such as communication, creative, and personal development workshops and therapeutic/meditation sessions, also including some shamanic vision questing type work to examine deeper levels of consciousness and self.
The outcome being that they will have opened up, explored who they want to be, and identified things to take responsibility for and how to do this, as well as having affirmed that their transition into adulthood is something to celebrate.
There is nothing in the UK to mark and explore this important transition, so our young people are left with uncertainty about themselves, their identity, the world around them, and how to find ways of dealing with it.
It is a very personal journey, and young people will be left with a sense of meaningfulness instead of feeling disassociated and disaffected.
It is a great strategy for prevention of teenage anti-social behaviour.
Young People would also be given tools & techniques to help them on their journey and remind themselves from time to time of who they are and what they want to achieve. The focus is always on empowering each individual.”
I’ve also written other articles about communication wiht teenagers for example, and my views are perhaps quite controversial, but I have worked successfully with young people for many years.

Of course it is more complicated than this, but I think coddeling is a factor.

Raising teenagers is a complicated business even when they are good kids.

I worry about the lack of downtime as you say “the space just to be free and happy”. So much has changed just in one generation.

I couldn’t get my head around it either, I kept asking “why” and couldn’t get a clear answer. You are so lucky to be at a school with limited homework. Our school has a homework policy of one to one and half hours per day for years 7 & 8 and two hours per day for years 9 & 10. If you factor in soccer training or band practice (where we don’t get home until 6pm or 7pm) you then have a full day at school, one or one and half hours at extra curricular activity, dinner, homework we are talking about a 10pm finish with no real downtime (which we tend not to do so then we have teachers cranky that we haven’t done it, or we have to try to cram everything into the weekend to meet the assignment deadlines and we all end up very cranky). That’s a bloody long day. Certainly in our house homework is my daughter’s biggest stressor, and has a serious impact on family relationships and activities. I worry that by the time she gets to year 11 & 12 she will be burnt out. I don’t think it is any one thing that causes children to lapse into depression, it is a combination of everything, I just feel they are wearing pressures (long hours, bigger workload, tricky relationships etc) that you shouldn’t have to worry about until you are an adult.

I think that was what was so disturbing to me about both the 4 Corners piece and the article at Mamamia. Those mums did everything I would have done. Yet somehow it didn’t work. I don’t know if I’m just looking at my childhood through rose coloured glasses, there were definitely children who were bullied, who were sad or who didn’t fit in, but the current day statistics just seem so large.