I am able to generalize about the behavior of 13-14 year olds because I have dealt with over 2,000 of them. You think that your generalizations are more valid than mine because you have kids. I think not. Parents only see what their kids are like when they are around. Teachers see what they are like when you aren’t there.
No. I don’t generalize at all. I use the normal curve which tells me that there is a great variation in the expression of the human genome. I would never generalize by age or by thinking all, many, most kids are like the ones I know.
What I can say from the kids I have known through my profession, my circles of work & activities is that kids are capable of much more than most people expect of them.