Are you the mom of one of the 6 teenaged BCC boys having dinner tonight at 5 Guys Bethesda?

[Anonymous]

My husband and I along with our two elem. aged kids were seated next to a group of 6 boys, approx. 17 years old wearing jeans, North Face jackets, one wearing a BCC Wrestling jacket, all hanging out and having dinner together. Wow, just wow! They were such a great group of kids -- having fun but not too loud, no bad/lewd language, clearly having a good time just being together. When they were done, they cleaned up and headed out. My husband and I were so impressed with them (and it made us feel better about going in to the teen years).

Kudos to the parents who raised these kids. I hope mine turn out that well when they think no one is watching.

[Anonymous]

You were so thoughtful and encouraging to post these comments. I work in a middle school and see great kids like the ones you described often. Most people don't have that opportunity, and we don't hear as much about them in the news.

[Anonymous]

I hope someone gets word to the BCC wrestling team and maybe the coach can relate the story. Positive feedback to kids can mean the world. These kids often don't realize that they are role models and they especially represent their school or team when wearing identifying clothing.

[Anonymous]

Not to rain on the parade of positivity but this post makes me uncomfortable. It is so ageist! Can you imagine if someon eposted this about, say, black people? Marvelling that they didn't use lewd language and cleaned up after themselves? The implication is that this is somehow out of the ordinary. I teach middle and high school students and am out in the city with them daily and they are almost always well behaved!

[Anonymous]

Wow, that's depressing - does EVERY post on this site have to go downhill like this? Great post, OP. Ageist, PP? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to rain on the parade of positivity but this post makes me uncomfortable. It is so ageist! Can you imagine if someon eposted this about, say, black people? Marvelling that they didn't use lewd language and cleaned up after themselves? The implication is that this is somehow out of the ordinary. I teach middle and high school students and am out in the city with them daily and they are almost always well behaved!

Ridiculous to make the comparison you made in your post. The teenage years can be challenging for parents and kids. Most people can relate, and it was nice of the poster to share those comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to rain on the parade of positivity but this post makes me uncomfortable. It is so ageist! Can you imagine if someon eposted this about, say, black people? Marvelling that they didn't use lewd language and cleaned up after themselves? The implication is that this is somehow out of the ordinary. I teach middle and high school students and am out in the city with them daily and they are almost always well behaved!

This! So now it's exceptional behavior if you act in a civil manner? Where do you live that when you see acceptable behavior you want to give them a medal? Jeez.

[Anonymous]

Were you one of the parents who dropped a child off in a large group at the Rio tonight? Your children (age 13-15) were running up the down escalators in target yelling "faggot."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Were you one of the parents who dropped a child off in a large group at the Rio tonight? Your children (age 13-15) were running up the down escalators in target yelling "faggot."

LOL.

Though I'm aware this not funny.

-Mom who just yelled at DD for running up the down escalator at Nordstrom IN FRONT OF ME. Argh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to rain on the parade of positivity but this post makes me uncomfortable. It is so ageist! Can you imagine if someon eposted this about, say, black people? Marvelling that they didn't use lewd language and cleaned up after themselves? The implication is that this is somehow out of the ordinary. I teach middle and high school students and am out in the city with them daily and they are almost always well behaved!

This! So now it's exceptional behavior if you act in a civil manner? Where do you live that when you see acceptable behavior you want to give them a medal? Jeez.

Um . . . read the post that directly follows yours.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting OP. Not my kid last night (he doesn't go to BCC), but he is often out in Bethesda with friends and I hope he is as well behaved as the group you saw. He tells me he is. And actually most of the high school groups I see roaming Bethesda are quite well behaved. It helps that they know that parents that know them are also out in Bethesda and are watching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to rain on the parade of positivity but this post makes me uncomfortable. It is so ageist! Can you imagine if someon eposted this about, say, black people? Marvelling that they didn't use lewd language and cleaned up after themselves? The implication is that this is somehow out of the ordinary. I teach middle and high school students and am out in the city with them daily and they are almost always well behaved!

Where do you teach? La-la land? There's no ageism here - it's been well documented that the adolescent and teen age brain isn't fully developed and they don't always make good choices. We're much more likely to hear about negative behaviors and it's nice to see someone recognizing positive behavior - especially when a parent or teacher isn't around to remind them of their choices. I have to wonder what kind of life experience you have not to recognize this - if you're not a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to rain on the parade of positivity but this post makes me uncomfortable. It is so ageist! Can you imagine if someon eposted this about, say, black people? Marvelling that they didn't use lewd language and cleaned up after themselves? The implication is that this is somehow out of the ordinary. I teach middle and high school students and am out in the city with them daily and they are almost always well behaved!

I am a teacher too and I couldn't' disagree with you more. I have no idea where you got your teacher training but positive reinforcement is pretty well accepted as being a good thing. So do you never give your students positives for good behavior because they should know that is expected? Do you never give your students positives for doing well academically because you expect them to work hard and do well. Living in a world where no one ever acknowledges positives or doing well is a sad place to be. And you must work in a very sheltered setting if you rarely hear lewd language. I think it is great that OP is giving kudos to these kids who set a great example for her children.

Race is pretty different than developmental stage - you can read any number of theorists who will tell you that varying ages and stages are different as part of the maturation / development process (try Erikson, Piaget to start) . Skin color alone doesn't make people act differently but age does (as do many other factors - i.e culture). A 3 year old processes the world differently than a 10 year old differently than a 17 year old, differently than a 30 year old, differently than an 80 yr old. I'm guessing your teacher training didn't have any psychology in it given you weren't aware of that.

[Anonymous]

Great post, OP.

PP can suck it.

[Anonymous]

I have to say,I find OP's post well intentioned but, well, odd. This is how many teens act, OP. I see polite groups of teens out and about all the time. What were you expecting? Marauding, cursing, leaving their trays on the table louts? Too much! I'm the mom of a 14-year-old. So, this amuses me.