I wonder how our country would be different if old people stopped disparaging entire generations of younger people on the internet. Isn't there anything better to do?
Well as kids we looked at ways to make spending money in our spare time long before we had our drivers license. We gathered up a push lawn mower and a gallon of gas and cut yards at the same age as my grandkids, for just an example. We paid our way for the roller rink, bought our own skates and sometimes bought some of the fancier clothes that our parents were unable to afford.
I know other kids their age that would do the same. In my last neighborhood the parents would do the grass cutting as the kids sit inside, absolutely useless. We looked to get hired in community grocery stores when we became of age. Kids worked their way thru college if they wanted to go, even between classes. Nowadays the majority of college age kids have never worked one hour in the private sector before they enter the freshman year. [opps can I say freshman?]
Of course there was the draft which taught you more, including real life skills in the few short years than any college in this country for the same amount of time. You bet some of those lessons stayed with you for decades and you darn sure gave you a better appreciation of what our own previous generations gave us and gave up so we could sit on our butts here and bitch if we want to.
There are differences in the generations from when we were kids. For the families that lived out on farms, it was regular practice that the kids did work on with their parents and learned many skills in the process like fabricating make do farm equipment or patching up tractors.
All these skills were just part of life skills . I guarantee you right now you can't get the average city kid to drive a stick shift vehicle or even know how to check the oil and know what type of oil to buy as they reached the age of 18.
And to boot when you ask the bulk of the up and coming generation to do any of the simple chores like take the garbage out, you get a lot of lip service. And that did not happen in my house without a serious response one time.