‘You’d struggle to find a room of adults behaving as respectfully’
Last updated 11:25, Friday, 21 November 2008
Hunting in packs, they stalk our streets. No respect for anyone. No fear of authority. They’re untouchable, and they know it. These animals are dangerous.
These animals are children. This bleak vision reflects how the younger generation is viewed by millions of adults.
A new survey commissioned by children’s charity Barnardo’s suggests an increasing intolerance of young people. More than half of the adults questioned think that British children are “beginning to behave like animals”.
More than a third agreed that “it feels like the streets are infested with children”. Forty-three per cent say “something has to be done” to protect society from children and young people.
Mike Mills has heard it all before, but he begs to differ. Mike is project manager of Whitehaven Harbour Youth Project which works with hundreds of young people, most aged 11-16.
They come down to the project’s base in the Lonsdale Centre to have fun and help in the community with things like clearing up litter.
“People say an awful lot of negative things about young people,” says Mike. “But if you come here you won’t hear a cross word. Monday nights attract so many young people – usually about 65 – that they have had to be split into age groups. Anyone could come in here and not be intimidated. The atmosphere is not disrespectful or foul-mouthed. The spirit is tremendous. There’s been no graffiti, no damage, no abuse. You’d struggle to find a room of adults behaving as respectfully.”
So where do these vitriolic views of today’s youth, as expressed in the Barnardo’s survey and many others, come from?
Mike says: “We work with some that have got behavioural issues. All those things that are going on with some young people are in society around us.”
He believes the solution includes spelling out clear boundaries while also trusting young people with responsibilities.
“If you give them a framework they will work quite happily with that. Society is not giving them the right framework.”
Whitehaven Harbour’s framework is built on common sense and respect. There’s no set of rules; more a collection of shared values which have built up over the years and are now in with the bricks.
“Eight years ago on our minibus you had to say to youngsters ‘Make sure the litter goes in the bag on the front seat.’ Now we hardly have to mention it. If you give them a framework they’ll stick to it.
“If we opened our doors to 60 young people who’d never been here before you’d have chaos. Over time you build up a regime that newcomers step into and adhere to. If there’s anyone who doesn’t quite react in the right way we’ll have a quiet word, or the youngsters will. They have a sense of ownership.
“If you treat young people with respect rather than in a condescending way, they respond to that.
“Many are not given responsibility to do things. If you give them responsibility they rise to it. Some sit on our management committee, and can make a better contribution than many of us adults.”
A major theme of the project is outdoor activities. Mike recalls: “A while ago we went kayaking. It was so cold but they did it and enjoyed it. A lot of adults say youngsters don’t have any go about them. They have, if they have the chance to show it.”
Across Cumbria young people are searching for an identity, and weighing up the views of adults towards them.
At Petteril Bank Youth Project on Carlisle’s Harraby estate, Antony Hext reaches down to his friend Nathan Thomlinson’s left leg and stares at his sock.
“Have you got your machete?” he asks. “Is it in there?”
Nathan’s sock is a little small to conceal such a weapon, if there was any doubt that Antony is joking.
But there’s a serious side to the 14-year-old’s quip as he mocks the grim perception which millions of adults have of the younger generation.
Antony and Nathan are content to play with stereotypes rather than knives or guns. “I go out with my homies, some people get stabbed,” says Antony. Still joking.
While adults’ feelings are frequently heard, what do the young recipients of their fear and loathing think about being public enemy number one?
Antony and 13-year-old Nathan say they sense little hostility from adults, except the police. “They always come after us. They think we’re always doing stuff and we’re not.”
When they’re not at the youth project what do they do? “Chill, in the house or out and about. Get chessed.”
If they get into trouble, who are they worried about having to face? “No one,” says Antony.
“I don’t get into trouble,” says Nathan.
Jamie Ellis, 14, and Chris Heggie, 13, are more aware of a negative reaction from adults. Jamie says: “When you go to shops everyone watches you. They just think you’re gonna steal. I just want to leave. They do your head in.”
Twelve-year-olds Andrew Paton and Jamie Thompson also feel unwelcome in shops. “Some of them only let two children in at once,” says Andrew. “They don’t have that for adults.
“You play football with your friends and people come out and start shouting at you to get off their front. Once we were being a bit noisy and this woman came out and started shouting saying she was trying to get to sleep.”
Andrew concedes that some older people are “all right” but he’s not happy about one of his teachers.
“I get called Ginger at school by the teacher cos he doesn’t know my name.”
What does he want to do when he’s older? “I want to work at Burger King. My dad’s friend works there and if there’s any burgers left he gets to scran them.”
He and Jamie collapse into laughter. Jamie wants to be a mechanic because he likes cars. Andrew decides that maybe he’d rather work in a sports shop than a burger bar.
Zara Broughton, 11, doesn’t think there are any really bad children. “I think they just get harsh opinions.” Her friend Caitlin Tinkler, who is also 11, suggests: “Or they think they’re not going to get attention so they behave bad to get attention.”
The girls may not have seen much evidence of children behaving badly but they can’t say the same about adults. Zara says: “I’ve heard adults shouting when they’re drunk. This woman and man fell out and started shouting when I was trying to get to bed.”
Worse than the shouts are the casual comments which linger and burn. Caitlin recalls: “One teacher said I wasn’t a very bright child. I don’t agree with that because I think I’m quite clever.”
Some of the young people at the youth project, not all of whom have been named in this article, admitted to run-ins with the police for things like playing on building sites, riding motorbikes illegally and retrieving footballs from school roofs.
Most said their mothers know where they are at night, although this included: “She knows I’m round Carlisle.” In this small sample twice as many children’s parents lived apart as together.
At nine o’clock in a dimly lit alley off Shadygrove Road on the other side of Carlisle, Bargain Booze and Booze Buster face each other across the street and a pack of children is hunting in the wild.
About 20 teenagers talk and laugh and, in some cases, swear and smoke. One young man sucks on a joint. None of his friends takes up his offer to share.
Animals. This is what 53 per cent of Barnardo’s survey respondents said that children behave like. Those here, most aged 13-16, do not agree.
“It’s stereotypical. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” says one girl. “They treat us like imbeciles. They’ve got no respect for us.”
“Sometimes it’s true,” says her friend. “But they [adults] used to do what we do.”
A 16-year-old boy says: “The police could be catching murderers but they’ll come round here instead. They just think the worst of us all the time.”
Some of them claim to have been barred from local shops or allowed in only one at a time.
They proudly point out the paintings on the side of Raffles Family Centre, some of which they created, and praise the staff.
Back home most of them have TVs and computers in their rooms. So why are they roaming the dark streets of Raffles?
“You get bored at home. You get to socialise here. Just hanging with your mates.”
Some have curfews but not all. One girl is supposed to be back home by 9.30. “If I’m a minute late I have to be back a minute earlier tomorrow.”
What do they think about adults? One girl says she respects her parents but a lot of the comments are negative.
“My dad’s fallen out with us. He’s always in the pub.”
“When you go down Botchergate on a night you see them fighting.”
What do they want to be doing when they’re past the age of gathering on the street? There are some shrugs. Two girls want to go to university, one to study nursing.
There’s a blast of cold air down Shadygrove Road. Nearly all of the teenagers simultaneously reach behind their heads and seconds later they’ve become a gang of hoodies.
“What’s up my homies?” The loudest of the group, a 16-year-old boy who seems to be taking part in the opposite of a sponsored silence, starts laughing and his friends join in.
Many of the adults who walk these streets and those elsewhere in Cumbria would say that young people do intimidate, deliberately or unknowingly. There is violence and aggression and pack behaviour. But those here tonight were not animals, at least not under a newspaper’s gaze.
Some were friendly and enthusiastic, others sullen and withdrawn. A range of behaviour. Just like adults.
For more information about Whitehaven Harbour Youth Project call 01946 690404.
RLytollis@cngroup.co.uk
