I was just asking because a few days ago i had an altercation on the bus with two girls aged no more than 13 who were listening to the most out of order music i've ever heard on their mobile phones. To make maters worse they knew every word and were singing along like it was a gospel song at church. One song was about stamping on battyman with lyrics that made Boom Bye Bye sound like a nursery rhyme. The other was full of I'm going to '**** you' this way and that etc. I told them to either turn it off, put head phones on and most importantly asked them if they understood what they were singing at the top of their lungs in public.

They tried to argue with me but i made it clear that as a fare paying adult i had a right not to listen to their slackness and that me and them were not size. i told them that it wasn't cute to be an embarrasing stereotype. They grumbled some lame comeback but as an adult i felt it was my responsibility (because they may not have any responsible adults in their lives) to tell them that what they were doing was wrong.

Anyway it got me thinking, surely if their parents knew what was on their phone (after all its the parents who must be paying for the phone and computer to download songs as the kids can't work) they would be horrifed. I just wondered if anybody with kids ever checked what music ther kids were listening to or looked at their MP3 playlist.

It should be illegal to advertise products to children the way they do, most of them have Pay as You go phones and decide on what to waste their credit on, or they simply download it for free and use it a a ring tone. The internet has opened it all up for them really, can't even regulate it. Get a few of them here at work paying to go online and watching some sick videos, really, when I say sick I mean it, all that two girls on cup stuff etc etc. Think you're better off moving to the countryside and living on a farm, if you want to protect them, western debauchery is near enough unavoidable in the city, difficult for adults to keep up as new technologies have developed quickly in the past few years, mobiles, internet, entertainment and so on.

Is interesting how they all know how to fly about on the net but can't fix or use a computer properly.

Have to be careful ticking them off as well, a friend of mine nearly got stabbed while on the bus yesterday and I got in a bit of trouble myself earlier this week. Damn Met police still haven't replied to my inquiry on what form of self defense is legal and what isn't. Am looking to buy myself a can of mase or pepper spray.

Any more economic troubles will see the crime rate rise higher than it is now. Cost of living is expensive enough in the U.K.

Yeah i hear you about the danger bit but i can't help it, its not the first time i've ticked off youths and don't forget most are not carrying weapons, they're generally not bad kids, they just have no manners. i'm of the school that believes adults should not fear pickney and its up to us (whether they're our kids or not because some don't get no guidance at home) to show them they are pickney and must have manners out on road. if more adults said 'no' and stopped cowering in fear in front of these youth about they want respeck, i honestly think most of these drag up kids would calm down. many of these kids are angry because they know nobody cares enough to discipline them. i also did weigh up my options and assessed the situation and made sure i was in a spot wherby if they did kick off i had a good escpae route. i woudn't tick off every bad kid in any old situation if it looked like it could be the end to my life because i'm no have a go hero - but these girls were so likkle bit and if they truely wanted to fight me and i did get stuck, i assure you i would not think twice about bashing them both.

back to the music situation i still would be monitoring which sites my kids went on and would look at their playlist. if they didn't like it then the phone would get cut off and the MP3 taken away. its my money after all, they're my kids and i would be in control. no girl pickney of mine aged 13 would be singing loudly on the bus about how they want to be ****ed, not a chance in hell.

Even though my girl is still too young, I'm certainly not going to allow her to "lose" herself as she gets older. As much as I roll with the times with technology and all tht stuff, I still find myself with an "old school" parenting method. It's the only way I know and it's a method that worked for me and my siblings.
I'm not sure which situation is worse, here in the States or over in the UK. I've seen kids do the utmost unheard of and ridiculous things known to man.

babygirl I do think it is so true that kids are subconsciously begging for authority and discipline. I find that they begin to have respect for you and start to mind their ways when you set limits, and when there are huge consequences for their actions.

I thought it was just me that thinks it's crazy for kids under the age of 15 to own Ipods, their own laptops, cellphones, even their own flat screen. I think it's sad.

You did the right thing!

Thanks Kemkem. You're right the ferral kids are begging for someone to care about them and give them boundaries. There are too many people who treat there kids like they're friends and its scary. I even have friends who talk to their kids like they're talking to an adult. One particular friends son just finished time for gun posession and as much as i hate to, i do partly blame his mum because she was letting him hang round with any wotless so and so, and they were coming in and out of the house, some of them she didn't even know. I used to go round there and a team of boys would burst through the door and head upstairs, not even saying howdy then all you could smell was weed. His cousin used to deal weed and the son used to accompany him but my friend thought it was ok because it was his cousin and they knew the buyers!

I used to ask her delicately if she was ok with this because I didn't think it was right but she just shrugged her shoulders like it was out of her control. I don't agree with it because you find its those same kids that don't fear adults when they're out on road.

I recall when I was a kid and I had to go home on time and eat proper home cooked dinner and for a minute i felt jealous of the kids who got their dinner from the chippy and hung out till God knows when. But after thinking it through i actually wss GLAD that my mum was interested in where i was and made sure i had proper food and that my dad would reprimand me if he didn't feel i was acting right. A lot of people will say 'oh the government won't let me discpline my kids' or 'how can i stop them wearing revealing clothes or downloading ****, having a tv and watching out of order things late at night, playing slack music ,its the governments fault' etc etc' But I see it as excuses because if they are your children you can control them and what they have. Its not the governments responsibility to discipline your child. You can at least make sure they have enough self respect and manners to not want to sing about wanting to be ****ed aged 13 on the top deck of a bus full of grown men and women.

@Black Lion - hope you and your friend are ok.

The fact that your friend actually just shrugs is what makes this case even sadder. Govt. or no govt, my kids acts, they're getting an a** whooping. Lol...I remember when I was younger and we just moved to the States, my mother would say even pick up the phone and give it to me. "You better call the police, because I'm surely going to jail tonight!" Statements like that would instill fear in most children.

You go girl.

People are always telling me about 'voicing my opinion to the youths' But if we don't how will they learn...trust me I bet, at least one of the girls have considered what you had to say...I hope

I am tending to think that you went a bit to far. You were also making judgements about people and their family that you don't even know.

I think that it was fine to say something about them playing music loud on the bus but you didn't need to say more than that.

I listened to some stuff that i maybe shouldn't have been really listening to when i was younger but sometimes the lyrics kind of passed me by. It was only when i was older that i realised what some of these lyrics were really about. How about the songs like I wanna xxx you up. Did you not sing a long to songs like that as a kid?

My niece now likes some rap, rnb and pop. She listens to a variety of music. She does well at school goes to youth club at her church and she is a good kid.

Babygirl

**I'm standing up and applauding you right now**

Well done!!!