I read an article yesterday in the local press stating that half a million British school children they are unhappy with their lives. The new study conducted by The Good childhood report 2012 goes on to say that one in eleven youngsters (9%) aged between eight and fifteen have a low well-being at any given time.

With that in mind I want to take you back many years, when I was aged between nine and fifteen years and where happiness was putting firecrackers in dog excrement lighting the fuse and hoping that you where fast enough to get out of the fallout zone, where happiness was building a giant catapult out of old wooden drinks pallets that could launch a rotten melon 50 meters.

I never thought I would be writing about the youth of today, but they do seem a miserable bunch, almost adult in their demeanour worrying about adult stuff. Demanding everything that poor Mum and Dad cannot afford.

Locally I see kids with mobiles, laptops Xboxes TV in their own room. Everything single thing, that stops them from being children.  All this technology creates a barrier between the children and their parents, kids don’t need parents (Other than to feed their gadget habits) they have high-speed broadband and 478 friends on Facebook.

If you are a parent and you are reading this, ask yourself when was the last time you played with your kid outside, rolled in the mud jumped in a puddle played football or went for a walk with your daughter. At home, ask yourself when was the last time you shared a sit down meal with your child and had a proper conversation without any of the modern distractions like TVs, Ipads on while you are eating.

What I really find amazing is how we end up obeying our children, bending to their every whim, creating our own monsters.

Take a close look at your child and if he or she seems unhappy, it’s probably your fault.