These Kids Nowadays

I am 46 years old, but I think I am a young 46. I think I am pretty hip (OK, saying hip kind of means I am not very "hip"). I mean, I am fun. Just ask my 5-year-old.

So I (think I) know cool. I know what a cool 46-year-old looks like and I know what a cool 16-year-old looks like. But lately I have been doubting myself. I am starting to think I don't really know the younger generation.

I say this because I think a lot about the future of our profession. I know it is in good hands. I know that these young people are going to rise to the occasion and continue to improve on this great profession.

I met two newly graduated dentists at a dental society meeting (my first one in about five years) and one was $300,000 in debt and the other was $500,000 in debt. OUCH!!!!

They are going to be fine, but I just think a lot about how hard it is for them to get on their feet, and how hard it is going to be for them to buy my practice one day.

But I wanted to tell you a couple stories about the kids that I met this week.

A kid that has grown up in my practice came in for a cleaning the other day. He’s 17 years old, a good student, and is going to be a senior in high school. He is a little artsy. He plans on going to art school after high school. He made the prep team at school and is genuinely a nice kid. He is pleasant and has a great personality.

But he has quarter-size gauges in his ears. He has a piercing in his lingual frenum (he did it himself!). He has a piercing in his nose (he pierced his septum himself!!).

And just in case this is not enough shock value for you, he and his friend decided to tattoo the F-word on the inside of his lower lip. Not " Mom,” not his name, but the F-word!! (Oh and they did that themselves too. He said not to worry because they we cleaned everything off with alcohol!).

These kids nowadays.

I had another kid come in this week. He is a smart kid. I think he is getting ready to go to Wake Forest in a couple of weeks. The kid comes into my office yesterday with dyed green hair. Not a streak, not just the tip with the roots still blond, but the whole thing. He planned on having red hair for the next month.

He also had a family vacation coming up that he was going to cut short so he could come home to a party. I was like, "Ahhh yeah!!!! Folks are gone, coming to have a huge “Risky Business” party at the house before college starts."

He says, "No, I am coming home to have a gaming party. We are all going to come to my house to watch the championship on TV.” 

So you are not having a gaming party? So you having a gaming watch party?
He said, "Yes."
I was like, "Oh."

These kids nowadays.

Now I am going to throw one of my kids under the bus.

My daughter asked permission to go to the beach with her friends on Monday. She is 14 years old now and will be 15 next month. We checked it out with the girls’ folks and then talked to her about responsibility. We asked her what bathing suit she was bringing. We thought to ourselves, "Oh good, the relatively modest one."

Then it turns out we were checking out Instagram that afternoon (By the way if you are not a parent, this is now how parents communicate and check up on kids. You check their Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter accounts.) and there my daughter is, in a bathing suit that was not approved by her (cool) parents.

Oh, the joys of parenting.

The desire for everyone to see her and like her got in the way rational thinking. Then as we texted her on her way home from the beach telling her how much trouble she is in she started feeding me some lines of total BS.

I am the cool one. I am the cool guy. I am the cool parent.

If I was cool why then does she have to pull the bait and switch on me?

I told you I am starting to think I just might not be cool anymore.

Next thing you know she and her friends will be tattooing the F-word on the inside of her lip.

Oh my gosh, I am totally not cool anymore.

Do you think you are cool? Were you cool at one point? Tell me some stories.

Have a great week, 

John Gammichia, DMD, FAGD