The "lost" waiting to be found?

It is the school holidays.  The kids are out.  They are hanging out, perhaps taking a well deserved break from the routine of school.

My kids are also spending some time away from school routines of homework, assessment books, tuition.  There are with my wife at Aranda Country Club, leaving behind this father who is too busy with work to join them.  However, I did join my family for dinner last night.  We took a short walk from Aranda to the nearby Downtown east to do so.

I was appalled by the behavior of our youths there. While queuing up at the ATM, I noticed that the line was not moving.  I realised that 3 youths were taking their time with their transactions.  No money came out of the machine for more than 15 minutes and they were giggling away occasionally looking back almost as if to see how frustrated others were as they whiled away time.  One of the boys was heavily tattooed from his neck down to his ankle.  The other two carried MOE student cards in their wallets.  Obviously, there were in bad company and I wondered how would their lives turned out in future?  I did not have high hope.  They finally moved away from the ATM after about 20 minutes smiling and perhaps happy that they messed up the lives of others even for a while.  I stayed in line all this while mainly because I was curious if they would be up to any good.  But "good" was not a quality that even came close from these boys.

Soon, my family were at the foodcourt. There were many youths there.  I spotted many girls with boys/ boyfriends with hairstyle that would hardly be allowed in schools - or could they be hair extenders that I have come to be aware of?  Though young, the public affection that they showed to each other with hands in all the "wrong" places could put many B grade actors to shame.  

After dinner, we passed by many youths smoking.  Others were using vulgarities loudly. A few others have their noses, lips pierced and one carried a ear loop the size of a 50cents coin!  It became quite obvious to me that there were no parents in the midst of this youthful crowd. Are these expressions of pent up behavior from strict parenting or is the result of lack of parental guidance and supervision?  Or am I too old fashion and I should just "loosen up" because this is the new generation?

I worry about our youths.  In particular, I worry about my kids.  I pray that they will not be led astray.  I used the experience to tell them that those behavior that we saw was not right and that they should not feel that they have to conform to bad behavior.  Most of all, they should know that they are loved deeply, and they should measure their action against the love that they can come to expect.

Views anyone?