I'm Shocked

This month I went to Russia for vacation because I was born there and was visiting my grandparents with my mom. If you compare Russia to America, everything in America is peaceful and clean, in the city I'm in currently which is called Omsk, Russia, it's dirty, messy, and the roads are horrible.

Most kids in America follow the law where I go to school. Not many kids have done crazy stuff that's really bad for their health or illigal. The reason I'm shocked is because me and my mom were walking to the store to get some ice cream on a really hot day, we passed by a group of kids "Ages 8-12." The kid who looked like an 8 year old was smoking a cigarette and the kid who looked older was sipping on a beer, so were the rest. These kids weren't even teenagers yet and they were drinking beer and smoking. I've never seen this in America, what do you guys think?

Please don't leave a post saying Russia sucks and a horrible country. Russia is the country I was born in and I don't want anyone saying stuff like that about it.

Russia is a great place to visit but if you want to visit it for vacation I STRONGLY suggest you go to St. Peters burg or Moscow. Petersburg is a beautiful city full of historical places and much more. Moscow is a great city to visit also. The others, not so sure about.

 

maybe it was just where you were staying? im sure there are places everywhere in the world where there are kids out on the street drinking, smoking or taking drugs.

i don't know much about america or russia but in England maybe not as young as 8 but there are a lot of kids under the age of 15 who smoke and drink.

 

Welcome to post-Cold War Russia.

 

Yea you're probably right. I heard it's really nice in Moscow, I've been there when I was young but don't remember much. But still, my grandparents say kids here start smoking and drinking at a very young age. Even my grandpa asked me if I wanted a smoke, I told him I don't smoke and he told me lots of kids here smoke.

 

It's not the kids fault for drinking, or smoking, it's the parents.

I've never been to Russia though, how poor where the streets?

 

That's an assumption, not a fact.

 

In cities like Moscow the streets are really nice. Where I'm currently now, the streets are horrible, there's garbage like beer bottles, chips, all kinds of crap on the sides of the road. The roads are broken and look horrible.

Another thing I forgot to mention, the driving is horrible. The drivers don't care about anyone but themselves, I would be surprised if I saw a driver stop to let a person cross the street. People here drive like there's no laws, they basically do what they want unless there's a cop around.

 

They are 8 years old? Where else are they going to learn about smoking/drinking other than there parents.

 

Some places in America are screwed up as well, but probably not as bad as Russia.

 

Other kids at school. There's no high school, middle school, elementary schools in Russia. It's one big school full of everyone. They must've learned it from the upper grades.

Also, there's no laws that say you have to wear a seatbelt. My uncle doesn't even have seatbelts in the back seats of his car. If you get into a car crash you have to expect getting injured pretty badly or even dieing.

 

Maybe it's because they live in a country where their government has neglected them to the point where its the only thing they have left.

Do you honestly think that these kids are doing these things because they enjoy them or because it's the only way they can rebel against the social structure that has condemned them through a plethora of democratic and economic problems?

 

Yes that's exactly what I think. They get all that crap from their family or kids at school. I don't think kids at that age think about economic problems, I think your over thinking the subject. If kids are around people that drink a lot they are going to drink as well. A lot of families in Russia have parents as alcoholics including my grandpa who drank so much that he ended up getting diabetes and getting his leg amputated. Thankfully he is still alive and quit drinking. The city I'm in right now is full of drugies. Me and my grandpa were walking on the side of the railroad and the railroad was covered in used syringes.

 

It's a well established fact that young kids are heavily influenced by their parents.

See the Law of Effect, and, Operant conditioning using punishment.

 

Ain't good. I've never been to Russia though.

 

Another question I want to ask you guys. What will the government have to do to bring Russia to a "Normal" state. What will the government have to do to fight all these drug addicts, alcoholics, and criminals. It's not a good idea to walk around Russia in the middle of the night. You are likely to get attacked, everyone usually goes home after 11 pm because everyone is scared of getting killed or attacked by criminals or raped by druggies. Russia keeps getting worse and worse, what is the cause of this and what will the government have to do to solve this disorder and corruption?

 

And how do you know these children have parents? Maybe it was a lack of guidance from either parents or The State that led them to their rebellious natures.

That's a nice assumption you've got there.

 

How do you know these kids don't have parents?
That's a nice assumption you've got there.

 

Congratulations, your attempt to counter my point has failed horribly.

I was not the one who assumed whether or not they had parents, that was Malakadang. I simply pointed out that we cannot assume anything about these children without further investigation.

You should probably withdraw your above statement.

 

By parents I mean an authoritative figure. Of course you could argue that they live on the street, but we're arguing in general terms. Also, kids that age don't give a rats ass what the state wants, condemns, or allows. I don't assume a single thing, you just equivocate on ambiguity.

 

Here in Holland it's the same, not as much tho I believe.
I think it's both how the law works and what their parents teach them to do.
Here in Holland it's almost "Normal" if you smoke when you're 15-16 years old, so I think it's also a bit how the country works.
And NO! I do NOT live in the capital of Holland (Amsterdam), as it'll be MUCH worse there..