Former member asks: Can there be benefits to integration between under 18s and adults?

[BLueRibbon]

He writes:

Hi there,

If I was able to access the forum from UK, I would have started a new thread asking this question.

Should under 18s and adults be integrated together where they join and participate in clubs, activities, sport, programmes and leisure pursuits in their local community? Is it always negative thing or could it be a positive thing too?
What are the benefits to both kids and adults? If so what are they?

Are there any issues to be concerned about and are there steps to tackle these issues and would these issues still occur regardless of whether adults were excluded? Could any of the issues be challenged?

I only ask this because many people believe under 18s and adults should be separated and should not mix and wanted to know if that was necessary to create a safe environment and would it be any difference or could it be actually beneficial for adults and under 18s to be integrated and mix?

[Bookshelf]

Mixing of youth and adults would benefit community building substantially, and offer young people opportunities to build support networks external to their immediate family.

A lot of western social problems can be attributed to the strict separation between under 18s and adults — how people grow up into adults not knowing how to socialize outside of their peer group; people are more isolated because they don't really know their neighbours, after having grown up not being allowed to really interact with them; most abusive environments are allowed to thrive because parents have the authority to dictate who gets to interact with their kids; young people don't have as many practical skills as they would have in the past, which I think is partially because practical skills are nowadays meant to be taught by parents, and if they don't teach / don't know them you're screwed. Mixed gen interaction will help younger people learn more of these kinds of skills.

[FairBlueLove]

Is it always negative thing or could it be a positive thing too?

I'm sure OP is in good faith, but the real question should be: "It is always positive thing or could it be a negative thing too?"

[RoosterDance]

Go back about 60 years, and you would be saying...

I only ask this because many people believe whites and colored should be separated and should not mix and wanted to know if that was necessary to create a safe environment

We can now see how that turned out.
All this division across arbitrary lines is very detrimental. When people separate themselves into such groups, it makes in much easier to forget that those groups consist of people that are just as human. More prejudice and profiling arise. People easily fall into that "Us vs. them" mentality that we see so much of today.

Here's a short vid with some fine examples.