22.7 percent. According to the 2013 United States Census Bureau, 22.7 percent of Michigan is people 18 and under. The other 77.3 percent are people who need to set the example for the young adults and children that will be their future, our future. Adolescence is not a disease, it is a time period where the individual is lacking adult understanding, and it is the opportunity to help shape the mind of the younger generations to pursue a more positive way of living to benefit everybody. Many people with siblings know the feeling of having every little thing they do repeated on a daily basis and get annoyed of it. You just need to understand that these siblings are looking up to the older ones, and that is when the older siblings have an excellent opportunity to lead the child into a positive life, set an example for the child to look up to and want to follow in those footprints. Younger generations are our future, we need to set examples now and younger generations will follow.

When asked, ten out of ten people said that teens today affect younger generations. This may be in a positive or negative way, but we have the choice. If children see these teens skipping school, smoking, or bullying, they may want to fit in and do what they feel will make them “cooler.” We can show the young adolescents what will make us as a whole, better. We can show them that they can succeed in any situation, to not succumb to peer pressure when temped, or to stand up to bullies. We have the upper hand in the deck, we have the chance to make the world around us a better place with younger generations, but we need to seize the opportunity and influence what is right.