Destroy!

[Spellbinder]

I don't know if this is a political discussion or not. But i have to ask because i work as a janitor at severeal schools here in Sweden. Many times i come to what we call the preschools, its for children between 1-6 year old. And i find that some people probably youth between 13-20 has been at their place and destroyed a lot of stuff. Like the swingers (picture to clarify if i spell it wrong) they have spinned them up so that the children can't reach them. This makes me have to work with that even if there is better things for me to do. Also they tend to kick stuff to pieces like the sandboxes and play houses. It doesn't stop there of course but its useless to list everything that happens at night and weekends. What i want to know is following. Why? Whats the purpose? You guys are about the same age so you might be able to know what these people are thinking. I can imagine that they are angry at something. Like their parents or adults or the sociaty. BUT wth have those children ever done to them? Why do they trash the childrens stuff? So if you feel like you have some enlightning on this please share!

[AndrewDragon]

i also have been at this (when i was a bit younger) "preschools"but never destroyed their stuff and still dont understand that...

[kleinluka]

Well I think they don't really think about the impacts of what they are doing. Like if a bunch of 15 year olds smash a sandbox they probably aren't gonna think "oh shit... I just smashed that sandbox, now the younger kids cant use it anymore and it's gonna cost somebody a lot of money to rebuild it".... they would think "hey this is fun because it's not allowed and we might get caught...oooh I'm so excited!!!" *smash* *smash* *smash*... I think it's the mere fact that those people KNOW that they shouldn't be doing it that encourages them to do it.... The thrill of doing something forbidden and getting away with it and the danger of being caught... I remember when me and a friend were in our teens and we'd ride our bikes on some parking lot and hang around... Sometimes there would be bottles lying around and we'd throw them and watch them burst...Same idea, we didn't have a reason to do it... but we knew it was forbidden and that and the fun of watching the glass burst...well it was just fun They might also do it to piss people off on purpose, like the thing with the swings "hahah can you imagine a 4 year old trying to reach that swing? lol we're so mean"

you get the idea..

[⌐■_■]

ya it happens alot here in Holland too. There is no purpose for it but impressing their friends, venting their stress and killing time. the kids dont realize the stupidity of their actions, unfortunatly... they are are often not aware of the fact that theyre spoiling younger kids fun. they have a hard time enough dealing with themselves. puberty is very difficult phase.

[kleinluka]

Yeah I forgot to mention the "impress friends" part. Since stuff like this almost ALWAYS happens in a group the kids would probably do it as a small fun competition of who goes the furthest

[Spellbinder]

I really like the reply's so far. It gives me some things to ponder about. Also how about coming up with some suggestions on what to do about it? I myself don't believe in punishment allthough i know we adult's have to set bounderies. But is there a way to reach those kids in some way?

[Spellbinder]

Yeah I forgot to mention the "impress friends" part. Since stuff like this almost ALWAYS happens in a group the kids would probably do it as a small fun competition of who goes the furthest

Is there another "better" way to impress friends?

[kleinluka]

Well they think breaking stuff is cool and proves to their friends that they have balls.... :roll:

[Spellbinder]

Hmm. How about taking some cheap material, and they can help to build stuff and then destroy it? Like you did when you where kids in the sandbox? Or would paintball do the same for them? For instance?

[kleinluka]

No cause then it wouldn't be forbidden. It's the thrill of doing something WRONG and NOT ALLOWED that makes it so exciting to them.

It's like when you're a kid and your mom tells you "don't touch that delicious warm steaming chocolate cake while I go do grocery shopping, see you in two hours."

There was also a scene in Family Guy where Peter was standing in an empty room with a big red button on the wall and a sign above it "do not push button".... guess what he did? There was no benefit for him to push the button (in fact he got his face kicked in by some chinese ninja that appeared out of nowhere) but he just couldn't resist the shiny red button. If a parent tells her child "don't do " the child is more likely to do that thing because it knows that it shouldn't and it makes it more appealing somehow.

[Spellbinder]

Hmmm i hear you but i still have a hard time believing that there is nothing to do about it!

[ReNo]

Punish them severely so they know that there are serious repurcussions that simply aren't worth risking for what is a completely utterly exercise? Not enough punishment these days, and thats why our societies are becoming so god damned pathetic. Kids get away with this crap, and even if they are caught then the police are rarely allowed to do anything other than give them a warning.

I remember being in a big crew of folk in the park one night several years ago and some people kept knocking over the bins. Afterward I'd pick them back up, and they seemed to think I was doing something out of line for some reason. Madness really, dunno what people get out of doing things like that. But hey, I guess I did used to do garden runs and stuff which is effectively the same thing - something you do for the excitement of knowing your shouldn't.

[Minos]

I thought shit like that only happened here. I can't forget when they opened a cool park nearby my house 2 years ago to revitalize the area. The same day they opened the park thieves stole some electric cables in the area and the park had no power for over a week.

Oh and 4 or 5 years ago they decided to build a park in a poor area of the city. I remember that the community had been demanding it for years. So when they built the park some gangs invaded the place and destroyed it all... How funny is that, you demand something for years and when you finally get it you destroy it.

It's always like that here... Our corrupt governments rarely build any facilities and when they do gangs destroy them.

I'm no hypochrite either. Yeah I have done some shit like that in the past, like tagging some walls and throwing shit at billboards. I had no reason to do that except boredom.

[Taylor]

Wait in the hedges and break their ipods.