Short Summary: Growing Pains, By Jeffrey Jones
Growing Pains Jeffrey Jones sits on his front porch on a cool, May morning, holding a glass of iced tea. He reminisces on his childhood back in rural Iowa. Sitting across from him is his 15 year old granddaughter Alice; she is glued to her phone taking awkward looking selfies. Jeffrey observes this behavior, thinking how his childhood compared to his granddaughters’, and how his seemingly upheld better standards and responsibilities. Jeffrey blatantly states, intruding on the faint morning breeze, “When I was your age, we didn’t have the luxury of staring at a screen all day. I worked on the farm for the upcoming planting season.” Alice responds with a blank stare, then asks, “Grandpa? At my age did you have to deal with seven hours of Common
…show more content…
Census Bureau. A majority of those teens are most likely to be involved in sports as well. The uptick in activity among teens also correlates with their environment at home as well. Today, home life is much more relaxed and less strict than before. This actually prompts more teenagers to get involved than be bored at home. Looking at a group of ten teenagers, one would doubt that none of them would be participating in activities, its simply an encouraged thing that teens are almost expected to do to an extent. Now, one may say that the teen labor force has been shrinking, and that it true. Two things that supports this however, without making teens look lazy, is the fact that the recession of 2009 could have played a role. Yes, today's teens were only 9 or 10 at the time, but the sequences that happened after make total sense. We can still see the damage from it today, employers are finally coming out of shock and trying to gain momentum back into their business. Secondly, teens are working more for their dollar. Back in the mid 1980’s a teen who worked at a part-time job could pay for almost all of their college tuition. However, the insane rise in tuition costs today, simply can’t motivate teens today to save up. This is a huge factor on teens minds today, and leads to the next reason to why today’s teens aren’t as lazy as some might
Census Bureau. A majority of those teens are most likely to be involved in sports as well. The uptick in activity among teens also correlates with their environment at home as well. Today, home life is much more relaxed and less strict than before. This actually prompts more teenagers to get involved than be bored at home. Looking at a group of ten teenagers, one would doubt that none of them would be participating in activities, its simply an encouraged thing that teens are almost expected to do to an extent. Now, one may say that the teen labor force has been shrinking, and that it true. Two things that supports this however, without making teens look lazy, is the fact that the recession of 2009 could have played a role. Yes, today's teens were only 9 or 10 at the time, but the sequences that happened after make total sense. We can still see the damage from it today, employers are finally coming out of shock and trying to gain momentum back into their business. Secondly, teens are working more for their dollar. Back in the mid 1980’s a teen who worked at a part-time job could pay for almost all of their college tuition. However, the insane rise in tuition costs today, simply can’t motivate teens today to save up. This is a huge factor on teens minds today, and leads to the next reason to why today’s teens aren’t as lazy as some might