Suspended Generation

They call it the “suspended generation”, that of children and adolescents: girls and boys who to a significant extent experience a malaise that affects many spheres of existence and that the various statistical photographs produced by social research describe more and more precisely. One in ten drop out of school early; one child in 5 does not play sports; more than one adolescent in 10 is at risk of addiction to video games; eating disorders are increasing especially among girls; the number of cases of possession and distribution of pornography and child pornography is clearly increasing. Numbers lined up in the CRC Report on monitoring the Convention on the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Italy, which put us in front of a complex reality in which first of all the difficulty that both children and their families have in managing these many complexities emerges. It states: «Adults are unable to fully provide adequate answers and to always be those points of reference that children/and would need in every area of ​​their lives.
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Today, parental figures are often unprepared to face the challenges associated with the various stages of growth, disoriented and left alone».
Things are not always better in the school environment, and moreover «many of our cities lack “safe” territorial reference points, open meeting places, play areas, occasional and free socialization contexts such as squares and courtyards, without considering the issue of the scarcity of green spaces in the city available to children and young people». A society is described that is «less and less “community” and more and more “social”», which «proposes models that are anything but educational» thus disorienting young people, because «it undermines that system of values ​​that allows them to structure themselves and grow with respect for others».
All within a context of substantial uncertainty for the future.

By stating that adults must take responsibility for recognizing the shortcomings of the entire system to initiate a comprehensive rethinking of policies that involves the entire educational community, moving from an action of analysis and interventions for individual "sectors" to one that instead knows how to promote the overall well-being of the minor population in Italy, the crc Report underlines at the same time that both the awareness of the challenges that the world is going through and the will to commit themselves personally and collectively to address them have remained alive, and have even grown, in many children and young people.
Almost a surprise: "These great resources, of conscience and solidarity, can and must be leveraged to make children and young people more protagonists of their present and their future". And the first step in this direction is "listening to girls and boys and taking their needs into account". Generations change, and so do the related problems, but the underlying call is always that of listening.

Stefano Caredda
NP February 2025