old v young

I found it quite disturbing given the divide and rule nature of politics these days .

This is generation Y, brought up by Generation X from the Thatcher years, whom I suppose we raised

And the next generation of little Princes and Princess will be even worse, so fast forward 50 years and they will be the ones being 'blamed' for all society's ills and inequalities.

Happily not all the 'younger generation' are racist, sexist, ageist or any other 'ist' - dare I say just the losers?

I was absolutely 'gobsmacked' the other day talking to a 30ish woman I know. She is intelligent, well-educated with children, doing a job needing social awareness - and she had no idea who most of the major politicians were, including the then chancellor, and took no interest in politics at all. She said that most of her friends were the same. No wonder we're going to hell in a handcart!

I seem to remember a thread where someone had been to a playgroup and everyone was singing the Wheels on the Bus. When it got the verse about grannies, the person leading the group went with 'the grannies on the bus all smell of wee'! If I recall, no one except the granny in the group flinched. There is so much overt and understated ageism going on and for some reason it's acceptable.

I wonder if SOME of todays toddlers and babies might turn round in 20 or so years, hopefully if they haven't lost the art of conversation altogether and ridicule their parents for not taking the time to talk to them, too busy on their phones, or ask why they didn't make the effort to toilet train them before they started school, new phenomenon I gather, or show them how to use cutlery.

I remmeber being in the pet department of a garden centre where a boy aged about 6 was full of wonder at the sight of the tropical fish and must have asked his mother 10 times to look at a particular fish, but no she was way too busy with her phone conversatioon

Hear hear, oldbutnotout but am proud of my less than "reasoned and reasonable response".
All too often we seem prepared to answer unjustified attack with reasoned debate, aggressive and cruel ageism with patience. Perhaps in the hope that the individuals involved will learn from our example. But this can also be construed as weakness. The age for " lovely dear" or " yes, darling what a funny and clever little boy you are " is somewhere between 18 months and maybe 10. Tolerating nonsense is not education or indeed doing the "entitled" young any favours.
I am not advocating a return to "well because I say so" but we also need to stand up for ourselves, give the young the benefit of our experience and wisdom. We are not infallible, but my goodness, nor are they.

Hear,hear, DaphneI am not going to respond to the provocative threads post by the "Young" on this forum with reason, aggression or anything else as I too think it will be seen as weakness that I have risen to the bait.
However, when a 30 something said to me that as a retired person, I was living off his taxes, I tore a strip off him.
So post all you like, young person, but don't say it to my face. ?

I wonder if this ageism thing is working overtime both ways... Yes, I've heard some appalling things levelled towards our generation, but I've also seen a lot of ageism toward the younger generations as well. How many people on a thread started by a •certain• new poster this morning were accusing him/her of just having got out of bed, being in nappies still and various other things. I even saw one suggestion that they could be under the influence of substances!

I'm not for a moment condoning the ageist behaviour and accusations towards us, but surely it works both ways? Writing them, and their political leanings, off simply as the symptom of an 'I want' generation with not a well-informed thought between them (untrue in itself - I for one have had very interesting and reasonable debates with my Remain grandchildren) seems as bad as writing us all off as wealthy Brexiters looking after number one, no?

Dismissing their concerns and the political reasoning behind their choices just because they are younger...well that's just no better than what we're being accused of, to my mind. They're not all privileged, 'give me everything now' wastrels.

Always need to change Wheels on the Bus, 3 sugars. That Mummys on the Bus go chatter, chatter is sexist. Never heard about Grandma smelling of wee!!!!! Sexist and ageist.

Definitely not all young uns are like the arrogant twit on here.My nephews and nieces aren't,nor are they're friends.They're all very mature and sensible good kids.
And no,no kind of ism is acceptable. I don't mind a joke,even at my expense,but sometimes it's just not funny,