There has been a rise in negativity towards the youth of America in recent years. Across social media, videos of teenagers gathered together in large crowds in malls, parks, and beaches have gone viral for all the wrong reasons. These events, labeled as teen takeovers, have led to communities urging their local governments to enact curfews and other measures to prevent similar events from happening again.
Unfortunately, these events will keep happening, but no one really wants to uncover a solution or the reason for them happening in the first place. Young people are having a harder time than ever before finding outside spaces to hang around in. While there has been an undeniable rise in disorderly conduct amongst young people and teens, it usually only takes one person to ruin a massive event like teen takeovers.
Instead of enacting curfews or outright banning teens from public establishments, local governments should do their best to provide affordable or even free structured spaces and events where teens can hang out. Teenagers should feel like they have a place in society to participate and not feel pushed out. These children are our future, and how they participate in society all depends on how society treats them and what they learn from the adults around them.
That means parents, teenagers, and other adults in society have to take an active part in how we view teenagers and children and the ways we discipline them. There are right and wrong ways of correcting bad behavior, but the absolute demonisation and violent police crackdown of teen takeovers is absolutely sending the wrong message to the younger generations.
