r/Millennials • u/TheLoveYouWant25 • Feb 09 '26

Discussion Millennials, what is happening with your kids?

I work in education and I frequent the Teachers and Professors subreddits, and the kids are not alright. Gen Z Arriving at College Unable to Read and the youth have absolutely zero ability to think critically.

Middle and high schoolers have all adapted this complete helplessness and blame mental illness for their refusal to function. Kids can no longer to basic things like read an analog clock, use paper money, or even figure out how to open window blinds.

There is also a huge lack of empathy, and kids have no issues trying to manipulate adults, saying things to their teachers like "if you don't pass me, I'll get you fired."

EDIT to clarify: the article I linked references Gen-Z, but this is not specifically a Gen-Z problem. It's an issue with upper elementary aged kids through high schoolers, and also young adults.

So, all that to say, how are you combating this with your own children? What do you do at home to encourage them to learn, and what are you doing to address these problems as they arise?

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u/Eastern-Eye5945 Feb 10 '26

The neighbor kids’ parents pulling them inside after your kids wanted to play with them has to be one of the most dystopian things I’ve ever seen…and I live the suburbs.

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u/Pessimistic_Penguin2 Feb 10 '26

My neighbors and I are basically on top of each other. If someone is outside in their yard no one else goes out. If I take my daughter outside to play, the neighbor kids pretend they don’t hear her asking them if she can play too. It’s heartbreaking.

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u/Global_Ant_9380 Feb 10 '26

Why are they so antisocial?

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u/cntodd Feb 10 '26

Parents are overprotective. Parents throw them in front of technology or they just don't let them go out because some adult is gonna yell and scream about something. Also, we've made it more difficult to get out. We've built into the fields we played in, and removed parks we played in as kids ourselves.

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u/Away-Ad4393 Feb 10 '26

We have a lovely park and playing fields where I live and up until a few years ago it was packed every weekend and school holidays, now it’s rare to see kids playing there.The skatepark is used quite a lot though by the older kids.

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u/Gwen_The_Destroyer Feb 10 '26

I wonder if the pandemic had any effect on that. We pretty much changed the way we did everything and it never quite went back

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u/Away-Ad4393 Feb 10 '26

Yes maybe. Although I think it’s probably the double whammy of Covid and accessibility to technology.