There is a Youth Project in an area quite local to me that has had a venue for some time but has recently had to find a new one. A local church has offered the group a room and the nearby residents are up in arms about it. Am I the only one to find this very NIMBYish? One thing I often heard as a youngster was there was never anything for the local youths to do that's why that got bored and sometimes went off the rails, someone makes an effort to set something up to keep them off the streets and according to quotes from local newspapers "local residents will be scared to go out" and are setting up a committee to deal with problems that MAY arise.
I looked at a recent news item from 2009 that showed that this venue had found 25 people employment, has helped one youngster who had had a couple of run ins with the police gain a place at college and an apprenticeship. I think it's about time we respected our young people, I'm not sure how we can expect respect back if we automatically paint a picture of people just by virtue of their age group, a teenager is not necessarily a bad thing to be.
One thing that also stuck in mind is that this area can hardly be classed as a residential area, it is just off the main shopping area, at least one church, one pub, several B & Bs, shops and other business with a few houses in between.
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I remember once an incident in our local High Street where I saw a lady coming towards me with the most beautiful bunch of flowers, I smiled and said "wow, aren't they amazing? Are they for someone very special?" She called me a cheeky oik (or words to that effect) and hit me with her bag. |
We get phone calls from worried parents of this age group, maybe they are concerned about who they are hanging around with after school, or they are not sure if their child is taking or dealing with drugs and very happily most of the time we are able to offer the reassurance that their child is just your usual teenager, but on the occasions where a parent was right to be concerned we do recommend that they talk to agencies that are able to advise them on the best way to approach the issues.
