DryClutch

Ive read in a few books about this, and there is interesting data on this. It references the generation of GenZ or I-Gen, the ones who have grown up with the internet as we know it today, as a part of their entire life. It shows that a lot of kids are very risk averse, possibly afraid of failure, a lot of heavy helicopter parenting by their well intentioned parents attempting to not have their kids get hurt or encounter adversity, and then on the driving thing---- Yea I guess a lot of kids don;t have the desire to drive much because their parents drive them everywhere, and with phones and social media connectivity, why would you need to drive anywhere when you can just hole yourself up in your bedroom and "connect" with your friends? Doesn't feel like all this bodes well for society. But it's probably too late to reverse course. I couldn't wait to turn 16 and get out in my truck to go hang out with friends on a Fri/Sat night........

Cleared4appch

Man I was the same way about turning 16 and getting my license and wanting to feel more ‘independent.’ lol I couldn’t wait, it drove me crazy waiting. I actually got very impatient and decided to sneak into my dad’s jeep and took it for a little ‘test drive’ after my parents went out one night. I felt really confident driving it after my dad taught me with my learners permit. It was a stick shift, and I loved the challenge of driving it. Unfortunately I didn’t get so lucky being sneaky, because when I brought it back down the street I passed a neighbor’s house, and they were good friends with my parents. Didn't think they saw me inside of the vehicle. Lol lo and behold, when my parents got home, my dad asked, “is there something you wanna tell me?” Lolol. I got into trouble, but not as much trouble as I feared, and I still got my license when I turned 16.

I’m not suggesting kids sneak their parents’ cars out like I did before they’re legally licensed, lol but kids in general aren’t as willing to take risks anymore. When I was growing up, we were outside playing paintball in the woods or jumping on the trampoline at the neighbors house to see who could out do each other with back flips. These days kids are just in their house 24/7 in front of a screen constantly. When I really think about it, I have noticed kids on average are definitely not as willing to do what younger generations did. There’s no spark of enthusiasm. And willing to explore and ‘test the limits.’ Again I’m not saying kids should sneak cars out, but as a whole I don’t think kids are going to be better off in the future when they’re finally outside of that protective bubble from helicopter/sheltering parents. The parents didn’t give them enough permission to be motivated, to be enthusiastic and to push themselves and push the boundaries a little bit and find out what their interests are and where their limits exist. Now it’s usually, “well idk Johnny, that might not be safe,” as the default response. I think long term many parents are handicapping their kids and putting a limit on their potential.

There’s definitely been a trend. They just don’t pursue it with enough grit, and determination to make it happen even if it means they will fail/stumble a few times in the process. I noticed that when I was a CFI. Sometimes I’d get a young 16-18 year old show up wanting to take lessons. Often times the parents would accompany them and they’d do almost all of the talking with me in our first meeting. The kid wouldn’t say very much. I mean eventually they would start talking, but you can tell it took them a little while to feel ‘safe’ venturing outside of the helicopter mom bubble zone. Throughout their training I would notice the ‘helicopter parent’ thing rear it’s ugly head here and there. It was incredibly frustrating with one family in particular.

PilotBases

One year on, any updates?