Haha, I wish I had that kind of commitment to a bit.

It all worked out, but I appreciate your defensiveness! It was a mixed group, 'twas the lads cracking jokes, and not even to her - she’s a sensitive one (which I love). The funniest part is the coach wore a silly (admittedly less silly) mustache the whole season, his son was one of the goobers cracking jokes, and everyone actually really got along great over the season.

On the other hand, the kinda stuff you’re describing does happen, and my kiddo has already had to extract herself from a friend group that was heading solidly in that direction. No bueno! Bad parenting by crappy people usually, in my experience.

Thanks for the link that is really fascinating, though I also want to acknowledge that I feel almost crazy if this is a prevalent thing and I haven’t noticed?

I’d be kinda pleased if it were largely a rejection of performative positivity, one of the theories presented. I think we could all stand to be a bit more honest with each other about how things are going. Actually I think it’s probably necessary, if we’re ever going to meaningfully change.

I do worry about the ways the COVID pandemic (another theory) interrupted social development for an enormous number of kids, just huge. Though to be clear I was in favor of pretty strict, sweeping measures to limit spread, and don’t feel differently today.

I bristled a bit at first, on the mention of “quiet quitting” - AKA behaving perfectly rationally, given the available opportunities and treatment today, by my measure. But the (still Wikipedia) article it links to is a solid overview of a collective action tactic, so hell yeah.

e: can’t help but elaborate sometimes

I’m 2 weeks that kid is gonna look like he lost an argument with a weed whacker lol

I’m the opposite, I say bring on the stupid shit and do it often! Life’s short and looking kinda silly on purpose sometimes is fun. My most recent foray into such was a mustache large enough to be mocked by my daughter’s soccer teammates, first practice, basically on sight hahaha. Causing her to cry (and me to shave it, lol, but it was fun while it lasted, and I don’t intend to further traumatize her with sartorial silliness).