ABSTRACT
I wonder who first used the phrase ‘crazy mixed-up kids’? It conjures up images of the older generation failing to understand the turmoil of youth. The generation gap, of course, is two-sided. Young people do their own thing, older people fail to understand it. In some ways, this is the way of the world. It is the force that propels young people into adulthood, encouraging them to leave home and become independent, and also the force that encourages older people to put down roots and ‘stay put’. This struggle is portrayed vividly in popular culture. In films and musicals and pop songs from Fiddler on the Roof to Cat Stevens’ Father and Son. Children, as they become teenagers, are expected to become a little ‘crazy’ and ‘mixed-up’, which makes it difficult to know whether this change is a sign of mental health or mental illness.
