Devan Moonsamy
The month of June is the time when we shine the light on our youth. We tend to discuss the challenges they face and look at how they should change to be equipped for their future. But this is hard to expect of them when for most everything is found on a silver platter.
Whether it’s the latest piece of technology to the newest, chicest brand of clothing being at the top of the game is a priority. One might wonder where does the money come for this?
In most cases the age old “I didn’t have this or that growing up so I can’t let my child not have it” is to blame. Parents have become so consumed by not allowing their youth to experience the tough life that in the process we have created a generation of entitled young people.
As much as we might disagree with these parents who believe in providing the best for their family we have to admit they have a point. It’s alright for them to want to give their loved ones the best. But perhaps look at the way in which it is given. How about creating incentives or rewards?
What happened to having our children do household chores and then having them earn some money for their effort.
This piece is not aimed at teaching you how to parent but it is addressing the serious issue of entitlement we see in young people. Time and time again there is this laid back attitude that only grows into lack of interest which results in laziness.
Are these how leaders are created?
When the president introduced the R350 grant last year, majority of those collecting it were young people. Ofcourse we haven’t addressed the unemployment issue yet but that is a whole discussion that needs urgent addressing. But while we are on the topic what effort has been made by the unemployed youth to get a job?
Back in the day, you would always find young people seeking employment during the holiday period. Now days we find a lot of our youth taking to social media becoming influencers. There isn’t anything wrong in using social media as a tool to gain experience but we shouldn’t feel this is the only sustainable career path available.
From doing the many celebrity challenges to ridiculous dares, the online addiction of being the one with the most followers, the need to be relevant online is taking precious time away from us exploring our true calling.
As we mark youth day this month perhaps, we need to shift our focus to what can be done to make youth feel more involved.
We need to start a different conversation and look at how we can guide our young people to explore their potential.
Perhaps we should explore why they feel this way? Maybe they have just accepted this life or maybe they don’t know how to remould the world they have inherited. For many their upbringing might have been the main drive to just accept what was handed.
This youth month let us adopt the mentality of teach a man to fish instead of handing them to fish. Include our youth in learnership programmes and encourage more involvement with in broader career prospects.