Why are adults rude to kids and then expect respect?

Person_one

aimeemum wrote: »

The majority of them did not 'go through' a world war. Average life expectancy nowadays is mid 80s. The 2nd WW ended nearly 70 years ago. The majority of OAPs were either very young and don't really remember, or weren't even around for the war years! This is what gets me.....My father passed away last year. He was born in 1927 and had briefly been in the RAF for the final 6m of the war once he was old enough. He even said he wasn't really 'in the war' as he didn't really have to put up with much....he was living at home, still going to school and had a paper round. He was fed and clothed albeit to a budget thanks to his mum. Hardly what I would call 'hard done by'. Consequently this whole 'holier than though', the world owes us for it's freedom thing, is mis-placed. That was the previous generation in most cases, not this. This generation is the baby-boomers.

The baby boomers were born between 1945 and 1960, the oldest ones aren't yet 70. There are still plenty of people around who remember WWII, even if most of them were children and teenagers. Yes, most of those who served are gone, but not all. I regularly meet people in their nineties, even a few past 100!

Not that age or experience or anything at all is an excuse for rudeness, but there are plenty of living people who had it rough in the war, evacuees for example, or kids who lost their homes or father/grandfather.

supersaver2

Plenty of folk are still serving in wars now, children losing parents, coming home from war injured. Still doesn't give anybody the right to be rude. Also most older people that I know, my parents, father in law etc are well off due to property prices. Yes they all worked hard, my Mum was a midwife, but plenty of people work just as hard. I work hard as a teacher, but I doubt I'll be in the same financial position that they are in when I reach that age.

dinosaur7

I think the OP makes a very interesting point here. As someone without children, one thing that really irritates me is badly behaved children/teenagers...However, I have certainly noticed the tendency for some adults to be extremely rude to them, which is most unfair. I used to work in an FE College and it amazed me how many staff would happily breeze through doors, 'cutting up' students and wouldn't dream of holding a door open for some poor kid who was struggling a huge pile of books! I think we all have to accept that politeness works both ways.

On the subject of OAPs, I have to agree that some (not all, of course) can be incredibly rude. My OH (who has turned 60 himself) is constantly barged out of the way, queue-jumped and generally mistreated by female OAPS (and younger women, it must be said) if he ventures to the supermarket alone. I think it's because he's a fairly solid looking chap and if he ever reacted to the rudeness it would be very easy to make him out to be the villain. As a result of this, he has long reckoned that the easy way to deal with the world's trouble spots is to send in a special task force of the most aggressive pensioners from ourlocal Morrisons. He reckons they could quell most situations in under a week!