Interesting questions. Something wrong with being typical? Is there a huge “at risk or almost at risk” problem, sure is. Are they pained, both the kids and the parents. Very Pained. Many of the kids feel guilty about it. They stay off drech almost off derech or whatever due to peer pressure or being ashamed to go back, or they talk themselves into thinking, nah i’m really cool about this. 40-50 years ago, the “typical” yeshiva boy bais yakov girl didn’t even think about an issue called “typical”. We were all typical. Sure there were kids who went off, but nobody felt it was a pandemic issue. Today it is. Why, I think partly because of the public viewpoint that these kids were “turned off” by something. Not always. Many kids actually were never “turned on”. The yetzer hora sees a kid who has no really special reason for staying frum other than everybody he/she knows is frum, and their parents want them to be frum. A child must be turned on to yiddishkeit. That’s the whole idea of chinuch. Physical Nature abhors a vacuum. Spiritual Nature does too. If there’s no kedusha rushing in to a person’s psyche, then the yetzer hora has no problem sending in tumah. The yetzer hora is full of ideas, all tailored to each individual’s needs and sensitivities. Torah and yiddishkeit must be made fun and interesting to young children. The various tapes and cd’s that tell stories and make brochos etc fun are wonderful. The Pesach seder is all about teaching the children. If you’re old enough to ask all these questions, then you’re old enough to try to pick yourself up. Be “typical”. Typical black hat, typical whatever, just be a typical yiddish kid. Nothing wrong with that.
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