Comments by "Widdekuu91" (@Widdekuu91) on "America Is Not Europe" video.

  1. Thing is, I live in the Netherlands, and if someone came up to me and tried to kidnap me, I would start; ' ÁÁÁ- and there would be 5 grandma's, a cyclist, a dog and a binman that would hear me. In America, I've understood that there are places where you can just walk around for hours without seeing anyone.
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  2. You totally have a point though, it's ridiculous, the kids are not independend and then 'thrown into life' without experience, it sounds terrifying to me.
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  3.  @adr77510  Right, but you lack the education and self-taught skills in all of them. Helicopter-parents or parents not educating the child about drugs, alcohol, sex or risky behaviour, out of fear of them actually doing it, that's all part of keeping tight controll of where the kid is going and what the kid is doing. The moment that the (uneducated) teenager is free of that burden, they go and do everything that they were forbidden before. Hence the high teen-pregnancy-numbers in the US (and the very low ones in the Netherlands) and the stereotype of the upside-down-beerdrinking teens in the USA, that are sneaking around beer into their dorms. Instead of letting the kid/teen experience the world with you standing nearby incase they need you, it's like they are being put through a glass hallway first, then another, then another and then finally they get to experience the real world and pay their own bills and realize that they didn't have to be afraid of most of the things that they were cautioned about, as long as you know what you're doing.
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  4.  @adr77510  You're right about the education, but then you said that teenagers that are being given freedom are more likely to do bad things. And that´s where you´re wrong. If you have the freedom to experience it yourself, instead of having to trust the people around you to know best (which in many cases isn't true) you can experience firsthand and decide whether you like it or not. If you are being kept away from it, you will disregard all you've learned and "go for it" the moment you're finally given that freedom, whether that be a 10-minute-window when your parents are gone or a sketchy-situation in the bathroom in school. I was educated about sex, drugs and rock and roll (so to say) from the age of 5. That's when the Netherlands usually starts their sex-ed, the age of 5 you learn the birds and bees, they add on more details when you're 12 or above. Obviously it's always possible to ask your parents anything and they will likely answer honestly. Now, I have been given freedom to try out weed, if I wanted to. They didn't want me to take it from someone on the street, but my parents told me they'd rather have me ask for them (and them getting it for me, knowing where to get clean stuff) then hearing about me smoking tainted drugs from someone. I was free to go with a boy I liked and I was free to decide for myself when and how I wanted to be intimate. I can tell you that that was about 3-4 years later than the average American teen. I also didn't do any drugs (despite living 5 minutes away from Amsterdam) because it's there if I want it..so why the rush? I might never want to try it, I might one day...it doesn't matter, there's no rush, the freedom is there. Also, I googled and the first thing that came up on WIki was: Although there is a noticeable decline in U.S. teen pregnancy, the current rate is still two to four times more than in Canada, France, Great Britain, and Sweden.
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