The grandkids just visited. Mrs. L says they’re getting disrespectful. I think they’re picking it up from TV (even Disney). Any thoughts?
*Youngsters-14 years old or so.
My oldest granddaughter is a little smart mouth. I usually find it funny as heck. Her Mom, not so much.
The oldest of the bunch, a boy aged 9.5, is as sweet as can be. Never a rude word unless he’s after his little brother.
I have more experience with girls and I noticed smart mouthed girls are more common. YMMV.
My grandparents made that same remark about me and my sister around 60 years ago.
YOU, alright! They learned it by watching you!
I didn’t think it possible to be snarkier than me and my generation as teenagers. But I must admit, succeeding generations have surpassed us.
I suspect that the observation of “kids these days are snarkier than ever” is up there with “you kids call that music?” on the Big Eternal List of Things Adults Think About Kids.
There are fewer sacred cows than there used to be. The idea that children should be seen and not heard went out the window a generation or two ago. The idea that children should automatically address every adult as ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ unless specifically invited to do otherwise isn’t much of a thing anymore.
I do think they’re freer to express themselves than they once were. And since kids, like the rest of us, are assholes, maybe the end result is more snark. It’s probably a good thing on balance.
Yes, lobotomyboy63, your grandkids have been getting disrespectful. We’ve been meaning to have a talk with you about this. We think it’s from too much Leave It To Beaver.
It’s not that kids are getting snarkier as a group. It’s that YOUR grandchildren are getting snarkier, because they’re getting older. Teens are snarky.
Why can’t they be like we were
Perfect in every way
Our daughter is closing in on 35, but she did her share of snarking in her teen years, and it has continued, because of the above comment. Our granddaughter is still mastering basic English, but I expect when she gets out of Toddlerdom, she’ll make her Mama and the rest of us proud. The real trick is teaching appropriate time and place for snark.
Last year at work, a mother ran out to her car for information I needed. Her kid (10-13?) stayed behind. As soon as mom was gone, the kid made a smart-assed comment to me.
I should have ignored the comment, but I was having a bad day. So, I gave the kid my prison-yard-stare and said, “you open your fucking mouth again and I’ll rip your head off and shit down your neck”.
The kid turned white but never said another word. I’m lucky I didn’t get in any trouble.
I really think that’s it. We certainly weren’t any less snarky in private back in the day when it came to talking about our elders, but we were more circumspect in public, because they’d have come down on us like a ton of bricks for disrespect.
I don’t know. But there is a pretty clear difference in sassiness between kids on 1970s family shows, those from the 1990s, and Bojack Horseman.
I think this illustrates the reason why the kids are mouthier–I guarantee no kid will ever come up with the level of smartass remarks I did but nowadays it’s not done to slap your kid out of their chair, which was what my dad’s response to my snark usually was. Kids are experimenting with being adults and challenging and arguing and snarky comments are all part of the process. They just get away with it more these days is all.
Kids these days don’t “snark”, they “roast”.
Thanks for the replies!
We only see them a couple times a year. Just like their growth spurts, maybe they’re having a snark spurt.
That sounds about right.
Also that. They used to be such sweet, thoughtful boys. Ah well.
Yes, but I don’t necessarily think it i signals a bad thing. I actually think it is a good thing.
When my oldest nieces were teenagers, they were full of snark and sass. They would roll their eyes and suck their teeth in response to the mildest of parental instructions. And it would always shock me. Those things did not occur in my parent’s household, because my parents whupped us just for the crime of thinking about doing those things (they always seemed to know what we were thinking).
My nieces got spanked on a few occasions, but their parents were not made of the same cloth as my parents. Their parents were Generation Xers. My parents were old-school Boomers, born and raised on their own parental beatings. Despite getting their fair share of belt, Generation Xers were taught from an early-age about the wrongness of child abuse. Child abuse was the subject of many a “very special episode” of 70s and 80s TV episodes. So it makes sense that their children were born and raised on time-outs more than they “go grab my belt”. I probably would have rolled my eyes in front of my parents if it just meant sitting in the corner for half a hour instead of getting popped in the face.
That’s not to say I think kids should be snarky. I don’t. But I’d rather they be snarky than cowering in fear.
Different kind of snark. Back in the Stone Age, my friends and I considered slouching and eye-rolling the best way to show our contempt for our elders. By the time my kids were teenagers, slouching had been replaced by brilliant mimicry - and not necessarily behind the elder’s back. What we used to call “being a snot-nosed brat” always existed, of course, but the punishment used to be more immediate and draconian.
I don’t know a nice way to put this so I will just say it. The kids are fine. You are just getting old.