Where i grew up (late 70’s / early 80’s) there was fuck all to do so inevitably we were drawn into acts of anti social behaviour for shits and giggles. From trying to set fire to the school sign to putting flour in the petrol tanks of the PTA members during an evening meeting to nicking garden implements for presents for parents, I think it’s safe to say we were a right little bunch of cunts. I would despair if my nippers ever got up to that sort of behaviour. However out of our little bunch of bastards one became a Uni lecturer, one is a senior Copper and one conducts research after he completed his PHD. Maybe it’s just a rite of passage? Heaven knows.
But we never used the shops to finger lasses, that was always done “up the garages”. Urban class, that.
To be fair, I’m happy with most of what they do on line - as long as I don’t have to listen to those annoying fucks on youtube who, as you rightly say, yell in those annoying voices.
I’m minded to give in on Fortnite and let him fill his boots. At age 9, what was I doing? Playing ‘War’ outside, running around with toy guns, playing with toy soldiers, etc. The consequences were no more real than they are on the Xbox and, as you rightly say, I have Big Brother control over the thing and I pay the bills.
At the moment, our cardinal rule is that devices don’t go upstairs so, for now, no computers, phones, tellies, Xboxes, ipads, etc disappear upstairs.
I did say ‘for now’. I know I’ll have to cave in on this one at some point but am holding out as long as possible.
The main downside is that we get subjected to that fucker Squid (in my opinion, the worst of the lot) yelling in his Manc accent.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m moaning about, I defy you to watch this (with volume turned up) for more than 5 seconds without wanting to rip your ears off. It also features Fortnite, the game in question.
I had a similar feral childhood. However there were risks to this kind of behaviour. Swift justice was meted out by anyone in the village who caught you and reaffirmed by your parents when you got in. The local copper knew who you were and was quite frankly, fucking terrifying.
So whilst we did get up to all sorts of misdemeanors, you pretty quickly worked out right from wrong and that actions have consequences.
I also think that by having to amuse ourselves gave us a degree of self sufficiency at an earlier age, rather than the constant entertainment that parents seem to be obliged to spoon feed to kids every school holiday
Brand new greenhouse that Dad spent all weekend erecting, CB saint re enacting the best moments of Espania '82 with a leather ball from the 60s. What could possibly go wrong?
Actually, not. Soft as shite really and when we eventually got nicked for smashing milk bottles outside the house of the Constab’s main PT Instructor (and he rugby tackled me after a swift chase) it shook us up so much we dropped the act and started acting more sensibly. Taught us a lesson. Along with getting the cold shoulder for a month from the parents when they had to pick us up from North Walls!
I’m not going to be popular for saying it, but I think today’s kids are a pretty spot on, resiliant bunch. It’s a fair chunk of the 25 to 50 year olds that are generally the whinging, self-obsessed lot, forever banging on social media, overexagerating their problems. I swear this generation of kids look at us, bewildered, wondering wtf we are whining about.
I agree with this sentiment, as it happens. Forget all the Dailymail whining about how the country is going to the dogs - most kids seem to work bloody hard at school (unlike me), they drink less and crime is right down compared to when most of us were kids.
