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The trustees of posterity

By Joe Renna

The period of life that we call "adolescence" is less than two hundred years old. Before the Industrial Revolution, when home and work were one, there was no clear period between childhood and adulthood.

Most young people had no career choices ahead of them; children simply grew up assuming the trade of their parents or village. At the age of fifteen, one could be settled in his or her life's work.

Such a world is a stark contrast to our society, which has substantially extended adolescence. Today, many college graduates are undecided on their first field of work. Career decisions, which were made by age 21, are now being deliberated at age 25. Forty years ago, most men at 21 years of age were in the profession or company that employed them for their entire lives; most women at the age of 19 could define themselves through homemaking or a limited number of careers.

Career decisions are not the only things being delayed. Whether young people are more aware of the challenges of marriage and parenting or whether they are simply avoiding the responsibilities, the average age of marriage has been rising for years, and presently is closer to 25. Most people view this as a beneficial change.

Today, young people have so many more choices. Some say that they have too many choices for their own good. Without sufficient grounding and self-confidence, these choices can increase their awkwardness, and threaten their sense of self-esteem.
It is increasingly difficult to deal with these changes since adults are going through changes of their own. Today, parents are faced with challenges similar to their children's. Since medical advances have nearly doubled our life expectancy, the former twilight of life is now a mid-life crisis. Our global economy renders no one job or career track safe. That added stress in the home is now a family problem.

Adults have the responsibility to teach and guide youth. But changes are happening so rapidly that techniques become outdated in a shorter time. This is not to suggest that the challenges of adolescence were any less significant in the past. What is drastically different is the environments in which today's youth exists. We can't expect to address modern dilemmas with antiquated tools.The question we must always ask is if the trends in child rearing are appropriate.

Parents have never spent as much time with their pre-adolescence children as today. Some say that today's youth are pampered and over-supervised. Children simply don't get to play without an adult looking over them. Young people don't get to use their imagination in making-up games. If an adult is over them preventing every single aggressive act that may cause possible harm, children will not learn to interact with differing others, including skills like team building or negotiation. With all that supervision and organization comes pressure. While at play, young people have to perform or succeed for a viewing adult. Their play actually becomes work-something they will have to do all their adult life.

There is an area where it seems that our young are abandoned, actually when they are most at risk. In their teen years, the moment they start acting like grownups, we forget how much they still need and want our care. For the same reasons previously mentioned this critical age has been creeping into the twenties. Society has extended the incubation for adolescence but has failed to provide the nurturing.

There is a dire need for after-school programs for junior high and high school students. Most juvenile crime is committed between 4 and 8pm, for no other reason than lack of social opportunity. Saint Anthony's church has always provided a safe haven for the youth of Peterstown. Programs that seem progressive even by today's standards have existed in the parish for forty years. The Youth Center has always been a mecca for this activity. Facilitated by the church; owned by the youth.