SusanGaszczak

My usual morning routine had me choking on my coffee this morning. The children had made me coffee and I sat down to catch up with what had happened over night. I almost choked on my coffee as I saw the lead story on the BBC site.

My normal reaction to anything involving the Queen is to totally switch off. Not this time! Some bright spark has suggested that children should say an oath to become less of a problem! That will never solve the problem of the way society has changed.

I often have conversations with neighbours and friends as to why I feel society has changed and how we are now in the situation that we have people scared of teenagers. How we got to this situation almost seems unimportant though trying to find a sensible solution is the key issue.

I recently attended a Youth Conference. The 100 teenagers present all split off into groups and then had to present to the adults their ideas and solutions to te problem of 'Youth'. I had three groups present their ideas to me. Two of the groups wanted ‘Youth Houses'. This idea is based on the many empty homes and buildings there are scattered around the UK. In this house they wanted access to somewhere to chill out and drink coffee, a study room, information on courses/jobs/entertainment and access to an adult who was not a parent.

The third group talked about transport. They wanted conductors back on buses, buses that ran at night and cheaper travel. The most interesting thing I thought was the conductor; when questioned further they said that they wanted to feel safe but also wanted not to feel like they were intimidating other bus users.

Swearing an oath to the Queen never came up and I suspect never would.