I'm not sure if it's because they're put in front of the TV and expect Sesame Street to raise their kids, they're in denial or what, but there is a lack of not only respect in todays generation, but also in plain old simple common courtesy.

Just this last weekend, I was walking thru the parking lot of our local grocery store when I noticed an elderly lady drop her bag and a number of oranges and other thnigs rolled out. Immediately behind her were three kids between 12 - 15. One of them literally walked OVER the lady's stuff and just kept on going.
I was outraged. I wanted to grab them and say, "What the hell man? If that was YOU suddenly dropped your bag?? You'd expect the world to stop spinning so we can all help you, but you give nothing back?? WTF?"
Of course, I and another older gentleman helped her out and took her stuff to the car, but the image of that kid still sticks with me.

As a parent now, (my baby boy is only 3 months old) I understand there's an easy way to raise your kids, and THE RIGHT way to raise your kids. Seems like these days, if a teacher calls a parent about an outburst a child has, the parent immediately goes on the defensive saying, "Not my baby," instead of listening and working together. When I was in school and the teacher called...? You can bet your buns my rear would be red and I'd be in my room studying what I had left of them off to make my folks proud and happy.

As to WHY these kiddos are like this, it all comes back on the parents. I understand we're all busy, I understand we all have lives, but really? Is it HARD to spend time with your kids? Get to know their friends? Ask about their day, what they're up to and where they go? Is it hard to go to a ball game or teach them to grill or cook? Come on people, you're PARENTS, not their friends!!

Now, that's not to say ALL of the kids are like this. That's just not accurate. For every kid that walks over an old lady's oranges, there's a kid who's becoming and Eagle Scout or helping pick up trash.
Keep up the good work guys. You WILL be rewarded....

While I do think every generation thinks that, right now, there isn't a lot that our "elders" have done that grants them immediate respect.

I respect some of my family members, some people I've worked for in the past, and a few friends. Overall, I think most people are simply full of crap and there's no reason to respect them or anything they say. Let's say I'm walking down the street with my kid and we throw some rocks into a little runoff ditch. An old man comes out of his home and yells at me for throwing rocks. Do I respect that old man? No way. He's a grumpy old ass who likes to make people younger than him miserable.

Older people today don't have a lot of accomplishments that you simply know. You have to meet everyone as an individual before offering up respect. Did that grumpy old man serve in Vietnam? Did he work at K-mart for 40 years? I don't know.

As humans live longer, certain behaviors are noticed more frequently. We are living in an age where children--through no fault of their own--have immediate access to just about everything. Patience and delayed gratification are rare attributes in the younger generations. But just like anything in life, we (parents, teachers, gaurdians, care-givers) must teach these values from the very beginning and remain consistent. It is not an easy task. The world moves at warp speed and if you don't move fast enough, you'll get knocked out of the way! The unfortunate truth is that this very forum that we're using has allowed many to become incredibly rude without having to own up to their words. There is a (false) sense of security sitting at a keyboard spewing insults to someone you don't know or whom you'll never meet. Not only is it disrespectful, it's cowardly. Basic manners will never go out of style and I believe our youth (and some adults I know) would greatly benefit from etiquette lessons.

I think the counter-culture of the 1960's played a huge role in the development of "Generation Y" today.

The World War II generation built up the foundation for the largest, productive economy in the world. We were out-producing every country for every kind of product. If you bought something in the store, anywhere in the world in the 1950's, looked at the tag on the bottom, it would say, "Made in the U.S.A." The Baby Boomers took advantage of this wealth and flushed it down the toilet, put it up their nose, or smoked it all away. They turned from the conservative, productive society of the 1940-1950's and brought about the "free market" and "free trade" service economy we see today. They put their personal pleasure and satisfaction before everything else. Just look at the swindlers on Wall Street, the Enron corporate hacks.

The children today have no idea what it means to work hard, build a foundation and take pride in their work. We go to school on the internet, we protest for the legalization of marijuana, we use Facebook and Twitter as our forms of social interaction and find our spouses on dating sites. The current generations were robbed of a real personal, human existence.

I think the young people of today are bright and very motivated, they just need something that doesn't bore them to death. They need something that they are passionate about and has long lasting effects. Push them to their limits and watch how their appreciation and respect grows.

As a parent I think that it is our fault.. I have three kids 22, 20 and 18.. and beleive me we went through alot of this me, me, me, me phase. If we hand our children everything they expect the world to do the same. I am not saying that we should not allow our children to have things but they must realize that they are not intitled to it just because . I know that my kids would have helped I have seen them do that, hold doors for people etc.. I dont think that we ever really denied them anything they wanted I just did not put a lot of importance on material things. They were taught to be respectful to people . I am not saying they have never been rude but the fundamentals are there. We can not sit idly by and expect tv, games, or other people to raise our children you must take an active part in your childs life. There was even a point when lets just say I was getting the whole teenage attitude and found out what my state actually required me to provide them well the oldest one learned real quick that he had far more then was legally required for me to provide him so if what he had was not good enough I would be happy to take it back and just provde him with the essentials. So his wardrobe dimished and he ended up with 2 pairs of pants , 2 shirts and they were the ones I chose to keep for him. Lesson learned , attitude gone.

I'm sure every generation thinks that, as every generation it seems that kids get away with more and more. I think it has to do with parents wanting to give their kids everything they didn't have, and want them to be better off than when they were a child.

Think back in history, like the Victorian age, and how much stricter living was then. Kids were seen and not heard. Now half the time you hear a kid before you even see them!

The lack of respect with kids today I think is due to the children's programs on the TV. The translations into different languages is not so good and these translations do not imbibe the culture in the kids.