Are youngsters these days scared of having fun?

"kids dont want to do anything but playing on their ipads..phones ...games consoles etc"

My grandchildren must be the exceptions, then. They play squash (rather well, competing at inter-regional standard)) violin (rather well, took it to graduate and now post-graduate level) sew, read, cook, cycle, garden, and when they are not doing these things they play Minecraft and chat to their friends online.

In the past they have played foorball, badminton and hockey (hockey not for long, proved more exciting) and done the Ten Tors challenge.

I may have missed out a few things.

My neigghbours children play the violin, cello, trumpet and cornet, and join their mother in band concerts and garden and cook.. They do judo and used to play hockey and football until school work became important with looming exams.

You can't generalise. What their parents do influences what the children do - if they watch TV all evening, they can hardly complain if the children are glued to a smaller screen. Their example is valuable.

It's true, minimo. We couldn't wait to get served (underage) in pubs and start smoking as soon as we could afford 5 Park Drive from the corner shop...

Thank goodness today's youngsters are making healthier choices.

For more exciting read less exciting.

jinglebells it was your comments on my auntie that I was responding to...Sigh...

Can we play nicely now, please?

Think each generation finds it difficult to understand the next.All our grandchildren are different and that's how it should be. We can learn from each other, my grandchildren teach me all about technology and I can give them different experiences that parents can't always. Thus it ever was.

Many of today's children are amongst the best this country has ever produced. So it should be. Long may it continue.

(I'm glad I wasn't going in pubs and smoking ciggies as soon as I started earning)

Was it that really fun?

Well, we thought so! Not earning, though, still at school.

Well, it was the 60s...

When I read buildagran's post I agree with it. And I also agree that all the modern technology does take children away from some other temptations (except the porn.)
The various cultural activities though - it demands much more effort from parents. Our children spend much more time transporting the grandchildren to their various activities than we did. We did take them camping a lot though.
But all these cultural things are very "middle class". What proportion of the population can afford this? I wonder if those families on a lower income, with a less intellectual background, are coping? There still seems to be plenty of young people in trouble with the police in the big cities. And they use the internet to arrange meetings.
I'm not convinced - leaving this openended.

Anyone can afford to send their children to Cubs, or Boys' Brigade. It doesn't have to be middle class. Would be good if more dads would come forward to be Scout leaders though. There is a dire shortage.

I think, on the whole, most activities require a certain level of disposable income. An instrumental lesson, or any one-on-one lesson, will cost at least £20 ph around here, and probably more in some parts of the country.

Many kids won't get a look in .

I turned 17 in 1960, and like thousands of other teenagers in their first jobs I had a ball. What a shame you missed it all*jingle bells*. Mary Quant thigh-high skirts, Vidal Sasson bob , and impractical Courrege boots ....now I'm a clean living grandma wearing Hotter sandals (still got a Sasson style bob though). I feel so sorry for teenagers today with all the problems of student loans, drugs and image obsession. We really did have it all.

Yes. For a while I missed some of the fun of the sixties. Mostly due to life events.

Never pined for cigs or booze though.

And I wasn't down for long. Thank you for expressing your sympathy.

Many, probably most, schools offer instrumental lessons.

Perhaps if less was spent on junk food, fags and drinks, more parents would be able to afford to spend more on their children.

I think young people have loads of fun these days and the difference between now and then (say, before the 60s) is there's so much more for them to do. The choices are mind-boggling compared to back then.

In post war Britain, life has been very different for every generation. The range of things to do with our disposable income just keeps getting longer.

I'm glad children nag adults not to smoke and I'm glad teenagers don't need alcohol to have a good time. Plenty of people my age never liked the taste of alcohol and only drank it to be considered cool and peer pressure.

Everybody's idea of fun is different.

jingl, mine was a very brief rebellious phase - it didn't lead to a life of debauchery, thank goodness!

I didn't think it did.

I don't become on this site as much as I once did. I see 'jingle' is still upsetting other GNs as per usual. One of the reasons I give it the break from time to time.

I'm sure you are greatly missed. By those who notice your absence.

Can't all be as popular as you I'm afraid .

W T F ?!!!

Y'know what. Maybe you should start coming to gransnet meet ups and be rude to peoples faces. it's easy to make sarcastic comments on a forum isn't it .