What’s the point? A tale of the youth of today…

I'm sorry but the majority of bad behaviour is due to bad parenting or lazy parenting, you see children playing in the parks and thier mums and dads are sitting there with thier faces stuck to the phones totally ignoring thier children

But presumably those parents are a product of the parenting of our generation!

There is an issue in our area with young people causing vandalism and generally behaving badly.

There is now a PSPO (Public Space Protection Order) on the area where this is happening. The local council have to apply for it.

Info from Google:

Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), introduced in 2014, sit amongst a broad range of powers and tools to help tackle anti-social behaviour locally. PSPOs are aimed at ensuring public spaces can be enjoyed free from anti-social behaviour.

I understand that this enable fines to be issued for ASB.

I would speak to your local councillor about it

I just think that young people are not afraid of the police as they have no powers to do anything.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned. I didn't have time to read the whole thread

Sorry you feel down and depressed for the situaition of the park.

Sadly, this is not new - peeing, drinking, teenagers behaving over the top as they have no parents around them... not new at all

How old was the boy you called out for peeing on the tree?
Please learn from it - it is not a good move to do that unless it is a life or death situation or emergency (very few situations, basically)

While peeing outside is disgusting and unsanitary, it is nothing new and it is not a safety issue.

If you also knew the language they use is foul and aggressive, why volunteering to put yourself in the line of fire?
Not a smart move

The times I have been called out in public were by eldery people who thought my behavior or my family's wasn't acceptable according to their standards - none of their business and I let them know of that fact politely

Are the bottles of alcohol in their hands and drinking them or on the floor?

Not being underprivileged has nothing to do with these behaviours - they are tied to society changes, not money.

It is rude to take pictures of strangers in public without their permission.
A general background pic - acceptable
Targetting an individual - breach of privacy and their image rights

The park seems to be a safe place if mothers with babies are there too.

Please call the police if you see anything you feel needs reporting

I find it difficult to get TOO upset about taking a pee behind a tree. There aren't many public toilets these days. Is a glimpse of a willy any more offensive than a glimpse of a nipple when a mother breast-feeds in public?

What you witnessed was disgusting op, but the difference between you and me is, I wouldn’t be confronting him for it, it’s not just teenagers either, there are vast amount of people that take all sorts of recreational drugs these days and carry knives! I think it’s really sad now that this is happening more and more, we live in a beautiful peaceful area but crime happens everywhere, I’m older than you and find that there are far more good people here than bad! I too agree with you though! It’s really sad when you hear all the bad language I actually think of our grandchildren and wonder what sort of world are they going to growing up in!

Btw, what OP describes is not present in any parks I have been to in the US in the last decade

I always think it is a shame that decent people can’t get together and back each other up more! I was travelling home last summer on the bus from the beach with my six year old grandson when two loudmouth youngteenage girls got on. The language was appalling. They sat far apart for some reason, one at the front and one at the back. They shouted their conversation about quite intimate things; every other word was four letter. I politely asked the one nearest me to stop using such language so loudly as there were children present (lots of others apart from my GS). That elicited a torrent of abuse and not one of the other passengers backed me up, many of whom were, as myself, of a generation who will often complain about this sort of behaviour. In fact one guy, a good many years younger than me told ME not to get involved! ( I’m 65 btw). I actually was so mad I looked around at all those people (many of them grown men) and called them out for their silence in a situation which had them tutting and whispering about these girls but not doing anything about it. I know we have to keep ourselves safe when out alone but surely here when the offenders were surrounded, someone else could have spoken up too? Unless we, where we are able, can try to make a small difference society will continue on its downward feral spiral. But there again, in my working life I often dealt with people like this and their threats did not faze me, as I told them to their face !

It's best to discuss urine as a possible source of disease separately from rude behaviour by badly taught youths.

Your observation is correct that the social world has changed with regard to elder persons being respected by virtue of being elder persons. The rude youth would not have spoken disrespectfully to a young and popular celebrity.

Some rude men speak disrespectfully to all women young or old.

Litter louts are actually committing crimes. My sons spent their youth in a village where all including elders were respected so I know where you are coming from. Litter was not a problem in these happy old days in the village but now the village is a popular venue for tourists who have no emotional attachment to the village the problem of litter is a matter for the police and your local councillor.

Amalegra, that’s sounds dreadful. Poor you, poor GS. I think people don’t get involved as they once did because they’re scared. As people have said, little arguments escalate and end in dreadful violence.

Tuskanini… I have to disagree. A six foot man with his “willy” out is NOT the same as a woman breastfeeding. Not the same, at all. And he wasn’t doing it discreetly; he wasn’t behind the tree for a start.

I too live in a market town, on a mixed estate, with two or three parks where l walk my dog. It isn't worth saying anything about anti- social behaviour as you will only get abuse back.
I do think things are getting worse though, on our lunch time walk it's not unusual to see a drug deal going on in the park. My friend and l completely ignore it and go the other way.
At least once a week, we meet a loose dog trying to jump on Finn, the owner usually has no control. One didn't even have a lead with him.
I can't count the times that we have almost been knocked over by an electric scooter going at high speed.
The worst offender is a man in his 30's , who we see several times a week.

"social world has changed with regard to elder persons being respected by virtue of being elder persons."
I am glad that has changed

I have seen eldery people behave appallingly just because they have "earned that right" and I had no right to speak up

Respect is earned, not given automatically

This is exactly why I don’t let my girls out to play 8&10. Older boys and their vile language spitting and peeing. This too is a market town with new builds surrounding it.
I hate going to the park with them for the reasons you say. I’m 42. I hate the way society is now and yes it’s depressing.

katy1950

I'm sorry but the majority of bad behaviour is due to bad parenting or lazy parenting, you see children playing in the parks and thier mums and dads are sitting there with thier faces stuck to the phones totally ignoring thier children

Unfortunately with most mothers as well as fathers now having no option but to work, they no longer have the time to put proper standards in place for their children. The time they have is generally spent having 'quality' time. Teachers, nursery workers and childminders are restricted by how much they are allowed to chastise children. It's no wonder the kids have no boundaries.

After a lengthy teaching career I have watched the steady decline of general behaviour and the unrelenting excuses made by parents unable to accept any responsibility for their children's behaviour. Much of what we are experiencing today from young people (not all obviously) is the result of poor and elastic boundaries set by their parents. It is sadly the norm to see parents deeply engaged on their phones while their children are ignored and their questions unanswered.

Hithere, re taking pictures in public, rudeness and breach of privacy are wrong, but not illegal. People take pictures of monuments, museums and public parks every day and there will be people in the background, this is not a misdemeanor or a felony. People sadly take pictures and videos of bullies beating up defenseless people, drunks passed out or behaving unusually, just for their own sad " enjoyment". Sadly this is not illegal either. It is up to ones own sense of values to judge whether it is correct or not to take pictures in public: please be so kind as to give fellow posters such as myself the benefit of already knowing this and possibly having a moral compass...which is more than I could say about a man shouting abuse at an older woman as has been recounted above.

Tuskanini

I find it difficult to get TOO upset about taking a pee behind a tree. There aren't many public toilets these days. Is a glimpse of a willy any more offensive than a glimpse of a nipple when a mother breast-feeds in public?

The difference between a man peeing in front of a tree in a public place and a woman breast-feeding her baby is that the former is a criminal offence (1986) under the Public Order Act.

Breast-feeding isn't.

And I think you're missing the whole point of the OP. Apart from which, the young man was not, it would appear, behind the tree - but in full view of the public.

I don’t honestly think it’s down to parents working, my parents & their generation were often left to fend for themselves as children, dads away at war for years & mums working in factories, or on farms in my Nannas case. They had very little & lived through much tougher times. My mum worked part time, I have worked, my AC all work but I’d like to think that they & their children know how to behave in public.
It’s down to a lack of respect and discipline amongst a certain element, it affects whole classrooms and society in general, I feel sorry for the children who do want to work hard in school and do know how to behave. The fact that many children never get pulled up or punished for their bad behaviour isn’t helping, in fact some of them & their parents almost see it as a badge of honour if they’re getting into trouble. If a neighbour or a teacher complains about a child's behaviour there are some parents who just defend them and turn in the complainant with a load of threatening expletives. The police and school staff have to take the softly softly approach and the youngsters think they’re in charge and just know they can get away with it.
I also live in a small market town, not much goes on and we are lucky its not a high crime area but I have witnessed some very unsavoury behaviour and awful language from a few who seem to want to big themselves up and the only way they can do it is by swearing or mouthing off!! Some of the trashy TV programmes they watch aren’t helping.
How times change, when we were children travelling on a local train there was a group of boys swearing, nothing too bad compared to today. My dad got up, walked over and politely asked them to cut out the bad lamguage as there were women & children present. The lads shut up, it was one of those moments that could have gone either way. Would be a very different kettle of fish nowadays.

As I said before, this is a pattern which started in the Swinging Sixties and has been recycled with each generation of children. Free and easy sixties children allowed their children to get even more out of control and so on. Today we have mobile phones, violent video games and the internet added into the mix. Parents have their heads stuck in their phones while the children see and hear all manner of horrors online and go around stabbing each other. It's not creating a healthy society at all. While most people attempt to protect their children and teach them to be decent people there are many who don't care or don't realise.

Hithere

Btw, what OP describes is not present in any parks I have been to in the US in the last decade

The USA has a HUGE problems with antisocial behaviour in public, especially drug dealing. Los Angeles and San Francisco are dreadful places now. Obviously there will be nice places but the cities are always the worst.

You are not old OP, I am 50 and feel like this too. Since the internet was invented society is going to hell in a hand cart. Anyone who brings kids into the world today needs a good shake.

I live on the edge of a small market town in a lovely friendly neighbourhood but I’ve also noticed a deterioration in behaviour among some of the young people. It was reported in our local Nextdoor a few days ago that the poster was out walking her dog at 7.30 in the evening and there was a group of teens in the childrens playground, jumping about on the equipment, smoking, swearing etc, all in earshot of the adjacent houses. All this is regular stuff. What was different were a couple of kids about fourteen or thereabouts having sex, in broad daylight and in front of anyone passing, or young children visiting the play park as well as the other teenagers. If she’d taken a photo to report the behaviour she’d have probably been accused of being a pervert.

No you not old your two years older than me. But kids don’t seem to have respect anymore. They expect you to move if walking down street. Don’t even hear please or thank you anymore. I certainly wouldn’t have confronted him because lots of young ones carry knives nowadays. Doesn’t your park have cctv in it. Report it to council.

Apart from the changing mores of society, if you pare back all the infrastructure, the institutions, the services, etc, that maintain - with checks and balances - a relatively stable community, then the end result will be exactly what we are witnessing now.

We, as people, are like plants... unless we are pruned a bit now and then, we'll just grow completely wild and randomly, and ultimately invade the outer edges and structures.

So to speak.

I'm afraid I do speak to people behaving badly, but always politely.I was particularly cross one day when I saw a youth smash a bottle on the path in the local park . I asked him why and he said it was fun . I did tell him that the next time he wanted fun he could smash bottles on his garden path at home. I did add that I had just had a vet's bill of over £200 as my dog had cut his foot badly on glass in the same park. There was no back chat, there was an apology and his friends (boys and girls) very rightly decided that they should move on. I also phoned the school when I got home to ask if they could remind their pupils that on study leave they should respect other members of the public. I dont know that I would have said anything had he been on his own.By the way I am 84,and as an ex teacher can say old habits die hard.