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ESL forum >
Ask for help > a dessert generation
a dessert generation
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jarek2011
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a dessert generation
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I �ve got a question: what do you call a generation of today �s teengers who will stop at nothing to get their way. They whine and complain, pester their parents until they give up and do as their kids want them to do. The kids do not have to make an effort because everything is done for them.
I have hunted the web and found the phrase " dessert generation" but I wonder whether the phrase is commonly used. Can you think of any other synonymous phrases describing today �s generation of kids?
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27 May 2013
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cunliffe
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I know what you mean! What they do is called �pester power �. I remember reading a story written by a middle aged man about terrible teenagers, doing just as you say. It was written about a thousand years ago. Who that writer was, I just can �t remember.  |
27 May 2013
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jarek2011
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hi cunliffe,
thank you for the quick reply. yeah, pester power is the phrase that I know of but how would you call a generation of today �s youth who use it as their main tool? perster power generation? What I mean is what we call a generation of today�s teenagers who do not have to lift a finger because everything is done for them. Kids do not have to make an effort because their parents remove every obstacles form the children�s life (sth like helicopter parenting). We have MTV generation that is heavily influenced by pop culture and the mass media, what about the one that is too lazy and need to pull out their finger if they want to make it in life? Does English have a word for that?
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27 May 2013
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anaram
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Cunliffe,
I think you �re referring to Socrates
�Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they
show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no
longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter
before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.�
I constantly think about this quote because I usually feel what Jarek2011
describes. So I think it must have always been like that. But then I think I
have been teaching for over 26 years now and I have only had this feeling for
the last three or four years. Maybe I�m just getting old.
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27 May 2013
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abba
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How do you call them in your own language? In Spanish they are ni-ni (=neither-nor) because they neither study nor work at all (=ni estudia ni trabaja).
Bel�n |
27 May 2013
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jarek2011
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In Norwegian we call such spoiled youth "dessert generation" or "icing generation" - everything is served to them. I was wondering whether as similar and graphic term as the one that I mentioned was coined in English.
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27 May 2013
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dutchboydvh
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In the USA we would call them a SPOILED BRAT. SPOILED because their parents let them get away with doing nothing, and giving in to their every whim. Therefore they have been spoiled. And BRAT because of their constant whining, having tantrums and general bad behaviour. |
27 May 2013
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cunliffe
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There �s another side to this. There are few prospects for this generation and because of this, we call them �the lost generation. � |
28 May 2013
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douglas
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I have never heard the term "Dessert Generation" used before--it �s not a bad term though. |
28 May 2013
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MarionG
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Sorry to spoil the fun, I think we should be looking for a term for the parents who let their kids get to this point...Parents who are so afraid of conflict with their kids that they forgo any parental authority by the time their kids are three. Overcompensating the fact that they don �t spend time with their offspring by buying them the latest toys, clothes, games and gadgets. Complain about the amount of time their kids spend on a computer without ever simply turning the thing off for example........
I had never heard the term �dessert generation� before but I would use the term for the parents rather than for he kids, they are the ones who offer the dessert, without ever demanding the kids eat some real food first...wouldn�t want to spoil the twenty minutes the family spends together on insisting they eat vegetables now would we...?
Many kids today seem to be craving not desserts, but some real guidance. More and more often I hear kids explain how they wish their parents would forbid them to do something, or tell them to be home at a certain hour or make them do something before they get their way. They often interpret the lack of parental authority as a sign the parents don�t care....(often of course, the opposite is true)
sorry for ranting..fed up a bit with parents emotionally neglecting but economically pampering kids... |
28 May 2013
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