What gives people the right to talk to and act in a condescending way towards younger people?

Question

Just because you are older than someone does not mean you are better than them. I'm 14 and I treat even 6 year olds with the same amount of respect as I would a 40 year old. Yet I always have older relatives or sometimes even just a random person who does not in any way respect my opinions or capabilities just because I am younger. And sometimes older people won't even recognize that I have FEELINGS!

To people that are like this: Do you think people older than YOU are better than you?

To the others: Why do people act like this, and how much does it bother you?

Answer 1

You're right when you say you're 14 and you treat even 6 year olds with the same amount of respect as you would a 40 year old.

The problem is many people aren't like you.

I'm 28 and I treat others with respect no matter how old they are, unless they are rude to me first, so I would ignore them.

Answer 2

because teen ages dont know the answers, and you talk rubbish

Answer 3

Seriously, don't think I'm being condescending but maybe it is just how you're looking at it.  I say maybe because I don't know you and I don't know what's inside your head. But maybe you're a little sensitive to how people talk to you.  View it as a challenge.  Prove yourself to them so they won't talk down to you.  Sometimes people draw wrong conclusions about others ( we're all guilty of it ) and maybe they are wrongly concluding that you are not a bright capable person.  So, prove them wrong.  Make them eat their words.  When they see that you are bright and you are capable they will respect you.  Unfortunately, respect sometimes has to be earned.  It isn't just handed out.

Answer 4

I see your point and you seem like a very mature 14 year old who will make a lovely adult, but quite often people who are older than you are intolerant of younger people who stand up and voice their opinions whether it be right or wrong. We are always going to have people around us who are rude and disrespectful but if you learn by all of this along the way then it will make you a much stronger person.  I always try to be respectful of all walks of life, but I might perceive a situation differently than you, which will make me act differently than you that's all.  Try not to worry about people whom you think don't recognize you have feelings because if you let it get to you, then you ARE showing immaturity, just ignore, move on and learn and in turn that will gain respect.

Answer 5

it is called the generation gap.

in my experience the young trys to act like know it alls while the old is trying to give the young the benefit of there experiences. it is free advice from someone who has been there done that.

however age gives no one the right to be rude. that is just bad manners

Answer 6

Yes, older people had more real life worldly experience and therefore have every right to teach you, young, self centered, rude whippersnappers!!!

Answer 7

I am older than you and I don't like having people of any age talk in a condescending manner to me and it is an issue for me that I don't know how to deal with because I do not like to become or show anger since many times that anger makes things worse for me. Young people can be condescending too.

What really bothers me is when someone is being condescending and they don't know the first thing about you. They have no idea of who you are, what you have done, where you have been, anything, but they think they know and are so much more, and they might just be a fool in many ways that you are not. Condescending behavior seems to be a way that some people need to be around other people. It is embedded in our society and culture. It is not going to go away.

I also wish I had an answer on how to deal effectively with condescending behavior. I also think that if someone can not successfully be condescending on their own and want to be they will enlist help from their buddies. We now enter the realm of gangs and bullies and this type of sociel behavior I believe exists for the poorest, the least educated to the richest and most educated and everything in between. Gangs are not just physically violent entities. They wear all kinds of clothes, and are at all kinds of social levels and occupations.

Wow this was long because it is a very big issue. I don't know if anyone will bother to read this but I am wriing it anyway.

Answer 8

HA-ha-ha-ha. You'll do the same thing when you'll grow up. We all thought that we were talked down to. And we probably were, you need some structure in life and even though sometimes older people are wrong, you supposed to respect their opinion.  

Answer 9

its just the way the world goes round.  do i agree with it NO

younger people always take **** from "people who know better"  I am 35 and try everyday to make sure i don't do that to kids.  i remember too well how much it hurt me as a teen.  and you know what, some teens have great insights, and are far more mature than people give then credit for.  unfortunately you also have the dumb *** ones that make teens in general look bad.

if you are confident and secure in who you are,don't let anyone keep you down

Answer 10

I hate when older people do that!

I have only met 2 adults in my lifetime that carried on conversations with me and didn't talk to me as if i were and idiot. Older people have years of experience, given, but a lot of them automatically assume they are better because they've had more life. To me it doesn't mean they know more. I do what you do, treat everybody with respect [[or try]]. The only time I pull the "I'm older because I'm better" is when I'm joking around with my kid sister.

Unfortunately, those two I spoke of earlier have moved away. Now I live in a neighborhood of overzealous adults and ignorant boys.

Answer 11

As a high school teacher I treat my students depending upon the level of maturity and respect they display.  There are many young people who are capable of intelligent conversation. And then there are the others, so MANY others, who can't process a thought any deeper than,

"He's like, so cute! Do you think he's cute? I think he's cute. Do you think he thinks I think he is cute????"

Yeah.....so, when you feel you are being treated condescendingly and you don't deserve it, show your maturity, walk away.  Don't engage in a conversation or debate with someone who is being disrespectful. On the other hand, if you are treating a 40 yr old the same way you would treat a 6 year old then you are showing you have no concept of the developmental capacities of either and you would be condescending to the 40 year old!  

Respect is treating others with caring and compassion, and knowing when to offer it, and when to accept it.  

Answer 12

Years of experience.

Answer 13

Its a natural tendency. Plus after being talked down to be someone else, you would naturally want to talk down to someone below you. You probably don;t even realize when you're being condescending to that "6 year old".