Kids Are NOT Soft

There’s something that I need to put down in writing that’s been bugging me for months (maybe years) and it’s a narrative circulated by many (uninformed) people that don’t have the first clue. As you probably guessed, I’m talking about the "Kids these days are soft" BS. A claim that has been having a run for years, and frankly it’s annoying to hear. In an era when kids face more challenges than ever. The idea that today’s youth are somehow "softer" than previous generations is not just outdated, it's just plain wrong.
 
I would argue kids today are actually tougher than ever before. There may be an exception here or there, as there usually is. The notion that kids are somehow lacking in resilience doesn’t hold up when we consider the things they face today. Consider just this, the infinite judging from others on the internet. Social media means that every action, every mistake, is under a microscope from their peers. Imagine having your every move critiqued publicly—at a time when your identity and emotions are still developing. This constant exposure is draining for adults, never mind a developing young person.
 
From my experience, some of these youngsters have better emotional maturity than I (and many of us) did at their age. They can have chat with me and ask me for a day off, granted the world itself has shifted to that being a normal thing, still it does take some sort of emotional strength to conjure that. It’s never been about suffering in silence and just dealing with it, that ends poorly the vast majority of the time, so these kids are learning that’s not the answer and taking action to go with it, kudos to them.
 
When we think of other things our young people have the pressures of many of us did not when growing up, think about college (university to my friends beyond North America). It’s no longer an amazing achievement to get into and finish college, the expectations are to get into THE BEST and only THE BEST (see Operation Varsity Blues for some proof of that). These expectations are beyond what many of us ever experienced and this ever-growing pursuit of perfection that society (and yes parents) puts on them does not make things any easier.
 
Final point, most people that are babbling this manure about youngsters not being tough or resilience have not spent any significant time around them (apart from MAYBE their own offspring). I would challenge anyone to speak to a high schooler on a daily basis for a few months and not be baffled at the crap they have to go through.
 
That's all for today folks. Thanks for reading today, not totally about coaching this one, but not not about coaching either. Back again soon with more goods. Have a day friends and Happy Thanksiving to all here in the U.S.