To determine if the upcoming generation can be characterized by complacency we must first define the word complacent. To be complacent denotes a state of unbothered satisfaction, which sounds benign enough. Yet there is a negative connotation to this word in the sense that this acceptance of a situation is not entirely beneficial and might even pose some danger. This word is often used to describe people who are easily swayed, unconcerned, or uninterested in change. A complacent person isn't interested in anything that does not enhance their own sphere of existence. Does this describe the young adults you encounter in your life? All too often it is exceptional to discover a young person who is not bound up in this destructive quality.

Our society is rife with complacency and whether knowingly or unknowingly so, we are spoon feeding it to our children from their earliest days. Child development experts preach parenting methods that appease children without holding them accountable or teaching them the difference between a definite right and a definite wrong. The result is a crop of toddlers who are ruling over grown adults and causing domestic unrest. Most of the time parents will deal with this indulged child by sticking them in front of a distraction to alleviate the stressful behavior. What two things do they sit the kids in front of that work almost every time to instantly quiet the raging preschooler? Television and junk food.

Now you have a little human being conditioned to seek soothing from food and entertainment instead of trained to solve problems and master emotions. A short time later these same children are shipped off to kindergarten and are now the problem of the state and some poor frazzled teacher trying to bring order to a herd of self centered five and six-year-olds. Every day the youngest of children are plugged into some kind of electronic device to keep them occupied and out of the hair of busy grown ups who are working hard to keep up with the rising cost of living. Feeling guilty about not spending much quality time with the munchkins, parents will buy them just about any toy as a token of their love, also another convenient distraction. Thanks to the wonderful science of advertising a child's list of desires is practically endless.

Now you have middle school aged children who are carbon copies of fictitious characters they watch on television, trying to look, talk, and think like role models who aren't even

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Are we creating a complacent generation??
We want to hear your view. Write now!