the greatest generations parents were rough on their kids to make them strong.
but I guess they never turned it around and did the right thing in raising their kids. It was easier to let them run wild.
It's the boomer's kids you'll really have to worry about. There is a group right now, between 12-18, who have grown up with the comforts of the Boomer generation and don't see any way they can maintain that. Having the hippy generation for parents, they have no moral underpinnings whatsoever. They no longer live with both parents in most cases and in many cases, their parents were never married to begin with. The reason their parents had them to begin with was for their own self-fulfillment.
These kids are incredibly sophisticated users of technology but are socially inept. The most important relationships in their lives are not permanent, so they place little value on relationships. They hang out on MySpace and socialize in internet chat rooms where they can interact with little consequence. They are already so corrupt that they don't blush at hardcore porn, which they carry around on $400 iPods in their pocket. Commercial enterprises and public schools have effectively isolated them from their parents for a good two-thirds of every day. They are becoming cynical, yet docile consumers.
They don't anticipate a future that is nearly as good as what they have now and many of them figure the whole world is going to either blow up in a nuclear war or will be destroyed by global warming. They have no dreams, no ambition, and think they have no future. They have virtually no interest in religion, because the can't foresee a future in this life, much less beyond the grave.
I call them "The Last Generation." With few exceptions, they are without God in the world. In the coming years of judgment and hardship, they have nothing from which to draw strength or believe in. If any generation was to slouch towards Armageddon, it's this one. Out of all the kids I've worked with in Church groups for almost 30 years, this generation is the least interested in things like faith and service. Scouting? Forget about it! Sports? Forget about it? All they want is a GameBoy or PSP so they can practice killing someone. Trying to find something that reaches them and motivates them is almost impossible. With almost every need met, they have nothing that they desire, except shopping for new desires. It's a generation in need of want.