Wynter, 14, demands \u201clisten to us.\u201d Hunter, 14, answers the question\u00a0\u201cThe best thing about being young my age is\u2026 \u2018Having friends and learning\u00a0more and more stuff in school.\u2019 \u201cYour childhood is something you\u2019ll never\u00a0get back,\u201d says 12-year-old Trinity, \u201cAnd I feel like you\u2019re an adult for a long\u00a0time, way longer than your childhood.\u201d (1)<\/strong><\/p>\n \nKids today have every justification for dwelling in fear and gloom.\u00a0But they aren\u2019t. Instead, they\u2019re demonstrating a resilience that this\u00a0society does not deserve.<\/p>\n Just look what we\u2019ve been putting them through recently:<\/p>\n And what do they have to look forward to\u2026<\/p>\n \nWe don\u2019t deserve the resilience they display.<\/p>\n Amid the fear mongering they\u2019re exposed to daily, through metal\u00a0detectors, lock-down drills, armed police on campus, and the psychology\u00a0profession constantly pressing claims about its newfound youth market.\u00a0Still, there are some recent reports offering a counternarrative to cruel \nWhat the New York Times reported in its younger teen focus group is\u00a0mirrored not only in resilience but the dramatic upswing of political activism\u00a0of older teens. Today\u2019s teenagers are mobilizing for sane gun control, for\u00a0humane immigration policy, for identity and gender equity, and for a viable\u00a0planet upon which to grow old.<\/p>\n \nThe new PEW Research Center\u2019s \u201cConnection, Creativity and Drama:\u00a0Teen Life on Social Media in 2020,\u201d also documents positive outcomes\u00a0reported by youth themselves:<\/p>\n \nWhile moral panic fretting proliferates, evidence illustrates how these\u00a0technologies overwhelming facilitates pro-social youth behaviors.\u00a0Yes, it\u2019s true and should be more widely acknowledged, that during the\u00a0early days of the pandemic the federal government responded admirably\u00a0and swiftly to poverty, particularly to child poverty. Federal government\u00a0action aimed to avert economic catastrophe and, in the process, rolled\u00a0back more than half of children in poverty. (2)<\/strong><\/p>\n \nThat was then. This is now. With the pandemic viewed largely in the\u00a0rear-view mirror so is anti-poverty assistance.\u00a0No, we don\u2019t deserve youth\u2019s current resilience. We certainly didn\u2019t pay ~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n 1 Ariel Kaminer, Adrian J. Rivera, and Margie Omero, \u201c12 Teens and Tweens on America Today, New York Times, 2 Matthew Desmond, \u201cThe High Cost of Being Poor,\u201d The New York Review of Books, 20 April 2023, pp. 55-57.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cListen to us:\u201d Youth Are More Resilient Than We Deserve Wynter, 14, demands \u201clisten to us.\u201d Hunter, 14, answers the question\u00a0\u201cThe best thing about being young my age is\u2026 \u2018Having friends and learning\u00a0more and more stuff in school.\u2019 \u201cYour childhood is something you\u2019ll never\u00a0get back,\u201d says 12-year-old Trinity, \u201cAnd I feel like you\u2019re an adult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160953"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160957,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160953\/revisions\/160957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nculture and hundreds of fabricated \u201cswatting\u201d scares in schools across the
\nnation<\/li>\n
\nhealth<\/li>\n
\nhome \u2013 at the hands of parents and caregivers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\ninfrastructure \u2013 especially public schools and libraires<\/li>\n
\npublic policy and mercenary surveillance \u201cexperts\u201d in \u201csecurity\u201d and \u201cmental\u00a0health\u201d fields.<\/p>\n\n
\nfor it. And until we obey young Wynter\u2019s admonition to \u201clisten to them\u201d all\u00a0we offer is hopes and prayers.<\/p>\n
\n26 March 2023, page 12.<\/p>\n