By George Anderson
For all the grousing about the behavior of today's kids, particularly teenagers, it turns out that they may be turning out better than we did.
According to a report from the Foundation for Child Development, kids today are less likely to engage in binge drinking, smoking and drug use than, say, their parents were back in the seventies.
While kids appear to be less likely to engage in some of the harmful pursuits of their parents at the same age, they have problems of their own. As Fasaha Traylor, senior program officer at the Foundation for Child Development, said, "We can do better and we are doing better, but not better enough.'
One area where more work is needed is on the health and nutrition front. According to the research the percentage of kids who are obese has tripled since 1975.
Moderator's Comment: What insights can you share about America's teenagers? What does this mean for companies that market to and, in some cases, employ these kids?
There is some merit to the theory of Kenneth Land, a professor at Duke University and author of the report, for why kids are generally better behaved today than their parents were at the same age. Having engaged in reckless behavior in our own youth, we are more controlling and less likely to allow our own kids to make the same mistakes. - George Anderson - Moderator