Yobs, mosquitos and pink lights

In Britain we don’t really like children and teenagers. Just think about it – children and teenagers get a bad press. The media love to call them ‘yobs’, ‘thugs’ and ‘feral’. It wouldn’t be acceptable for mosquitos (a device that emits a high-pitched piercing sound that can’t be heard beyond the age of 25) to be used against any other section of the population to keep them away from a public place. The latest invention is a pink light that shows up acne to embarrass teenagers into vacating public areas. In short, children and teenagers are, more often than not, treated as a nuisance by society, or portrayed as something to be scared of. Yet when we think about equality we usually forget to talk about how young people are treated.

I recently told a friend that I was running a consultation event to gather young people’s opinions on things that affect them. He laughed and said “do they just grunt?”. I retorted a little defensively “If they did just grunt I would be doing a very bad job at facilitation”. The reality is so different to his perception. The young people I’m in contact with through my work have really good, practical ideas. They’re straight to the point, quick-thinking and solution-focused. They’re creative and they remind you about important, obvious things that adults have forgotten. They’re not interested in things being slick, instead they want to know whether you really care. And they’re willing to work with you even when things aren’t perfect. Most of all they bring enthusiasm, humour and energy.

The group of young people I’m talking about don’t come from easy backgrounds. They’ve got a dad in prison, or a mum they’ve been taken away from, or a dad who is heroin addict, or a family who have lived with domestic violence. And yet they show incredible resilience. We have to listen to children and teenagers and respect them, not only because they’re the future but because they are the here and now, because they’re equal citizens even though they can’t vote, and because they have so much to contribute, if only we would let them.