We’ve become very good at blaming children.
“Kids these days.”
Lazy.
Entitled.
Always on their phones.
No resilience.
No attention span.
Really?
I’ve seen no kids on the board of Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.
I’ve seen no kids deciding how addictive the algorithm should be.
I’ve seen no kids approving bubblegum-flavoured vapes.
I’ve seen no kids designing gambling mechanics into video games.
I’ve seen no kids manufacturing ever-faster eBikes.
I’ve seen no kids replacing backyards with housing estates.
I’ve seen no kids deciding children should spend more time indoors than outside.
Yet somehow...
Kids these days.
Children are behaving exactly as children always have.
They explore.
They copy.
They seek status.
They take risks.
They push boundaries.
That isn’t the problem.
The environment is.
Adults built it.
Every generation inherits the childhood the previous generation creates.
That’s uncomfortable.
Because it shifts the conversation from blame to responsibility.
It also gives us something far more valuable than outrage.
Agency.
I can’t redesign social media.
I can’t bring back every vacant block.
I can’t rewrite government policy.
But I can become one more adult who changes the environment around one child.
A bike ride.
A campfire.
A conversation.
Teaching scepticism before the algorithm teaches certainty.
Helping them discover capability instead of consumption.
I don’t have all the answers.
But I know one thing.
The answer isn’t doing nothing.
Question
What’s one small part of your grandchild’s environment that you could improve this month?