Young People and Their World

Young people and their world

Young people can be divided to two groups:
a) teenagers – from 13 to 19 – they often have conflicts with parents, they want to live indenpendently, the most important influence comes from friends, they often critize older generations, they are studying, often have part-time jobs to save some money, they often leave their parents and live with friends in rented flats
b) young adults – 20 to 30 – they become more aware of social problems, they have to be more responsible, they earn their living, they get married, finish school, start a family, they have to find a place to live, pay rent and other expences
1. Charakteristika (zovňajšok, móda, vlastnosti, záujmy)
Young people are careful about their look, image. They prefer to wear brand name clothes (Nike, Adidas...) and they try to look good and sexy. Girls pay attention to their make up and hairstyle, boys use aftershave or cologne.
Young people are usually optimistic, cheerful, friendly, talkative, well-educated, experienced, self-confident and curious, however, some of them can be rude, impolite, moody (especially teenagers), tricky, lazy, careless.
Interests – hang about with friends, parties, PC, TV, books, dating, sports, disco

2. Postavenie mladých v spoločnosti ( práva a povinnosti, možnosti štúdia, práca, mladé rodiny)
Young people have basic human rights - they have to be protected from sexually abusing, economic exploitation, neglecting and using them as a property of their parents or even as employees. Young people have also some duties like house chores, studying, they have to respect their parents..... Education is compulsory from 6 to 16, then you can choose what do you want to do, if you want to continue in your studies or find a job.

Job opportunities are better than in the past, especially in big cities, there are many posiblities also for teenagers to take a part-time job and save some money. We have a lot of job centres or employment offices where you can find good job. Many young people today start their own families later than their parents did. Many of them prefere career and get married later - in their thirties.

3. Vzťahy medzi rovesníkmi, generačné vzťahy (konflikty, príčiny, prejavy, dôsledky)

Friends and friendship play the leading role in young people´s life. They share their opinions,experience and feelings between each other, they help each other. On the other hand, there are also many youngers who are separated from their social group and grow up lonely as outsiders. It can have a great influence on their mental condition, social behaviour and general view on relationships.

Many of young people, especially teenagers have everyday conflicts with their parents. Young people often critize their parent´s conservative lifestyle. The complain that they dont have enough freedom, that parents interfere too much into their bussiness. They really hate if their parents critise their friends, clothes or hairstyle. They think parents underestimate them, and they also complain of don´t having enough pocket money, or not being allowed to come home later. On the other hand, parents and generaly older generation think that teenagers are rude, impolite, use abusing language, they don´t study enough and have bad marks. They consider youth generation to be disrespectable, irresponsible and unreliable, lazy, their music as deafening and their clothes awful.
4.Nezdravé javy v živote mladých (násilie, drogy, gamblerstvo)

Parents usually warn their children against trying things like smoking or drinking. But children are curious, they´re keen on trying new things, especially those they are not allowed to. It´s really easy to get some cigaretes, alcohol or even drugs nowadays, especially on discos, parties and other events. Youngs become addict very easy if their family backround is disrupted

5. Predstavy mladých o živote (očakávania, túžby, obavy)
When we are young, we dont really think about our future, we live our careless lives until it comes some situation, when the important decision have to be done. Every young person would like to have a successfull life - to finish their studies, find a dream job, start a family and have enough money to pay expenses. Some of them dream of fame and wealth but it´s not easy to fulfill them.

Questions:

1. What do you think is the greatest problems facing the teenagers of today?

2. How do you protest your parent´s decision if you disagree with them?

3. Name something your parents have done in life that really surprised you ( positively)

4. What would you never allow your children to do? Why?

5. What is the most important thing a parent can do for a teenager?

6. What are the advantages of being a child, a teenager and an adult? What are the disadvantages?

7. If you were a parent and your teenage child did something wrong, how would you discipline him/her?