For *generations* children have been playing in the streets of *every* town and city across pretty much all of Europe, and most of the entire planet. This is of course when they were not down the mine, in the fields or in the factory. They have also been playing in communal land, parks, waste land, etc . . .
For all this time they have also (at least some of the time) been breaking windows, damaging trees and annoying neighbours. This is not new.
What is new is that in some/many cases when this damage is caused there is no means to resolution or remediation. The 'grown up' no longer appears as a figure of authority, the police have no time for this, the parents don't accept responsibility.
This to me is the key difference - years ago, many parents sense of community and of right was sufficient to ensure that when they were aware of a nuisance caused by their children they would see to it that their children stopped. Nowadays, it seems that many parents (yes, I am a parent) see attempts to give out to their children as an affront, a challenge, an insult to them and to their family.
Of course, my rose tinted glasses aren't perfect and i realise that through the generations there were kids who were never controlled, parents who didn't care, neighbours who were annoyed and 'tortured' for years but I believe this was the exception rather than the rule.
On a positive note - my father came home from holidays a few years ago to find a foot shaped dent in the roof of his car. He was not impressed, but none the less he recognised that this did not affect the ability of his car to be driven or of the roof to keep the rain off. A few days after he came back, a sheepish looking teenager presented at the front door with a parent in tow. The teenager apologised, explained he had run over the top of the car as a dare and offered to pay for the damage to be fixed. The 'brand' garage wanted to charge something like €900 to do a bit of panel beating (can we say 'Celtic Tiger' ?), but my dad just whacked it back into shape himself. Kid learned a lesson in the practical cost (or at least the potential cost in this case), and the social cost of doing something like that and causing damage in the process. And how idd all this come about ? Because the parent in this case took the time and effort to recognise that the behaviour was not acceptable and correcitve action was taken.
This however, is different than the situation as described by the original poster and some recent ones where children have been advised that they are causing damage and nuisance and still persist with their behaviour. I don't envy people in this situation.
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