I grew up with unsupervised internet access throughout the 2010s in the height of the woke era. My parents never really knew or cared what I was doing online, and my irl friend circle has always been confined to a pretty small group of nerds. I didn't grow up going to church or being taught anything about traditional morality, aside from hard work, charity, things like that.
I still never became gay or trans or any of the new stuff that's coming out.
Why not?
It just didn't resonate. Kids are impressionable but I think it goes far deeper than than just seeing woke propaganda and falling for it. That stuff has to resonate with something in the mind at a deep level for it to assume a part of someone's identity. A lot of these impulses are actually good in isolation, but directed towards strange and concerning ends by our modern culture.
Most "woke kids" are actually very naturally compassionate and kind. They're sensitive to the feelings of themselves and others and hate suffering. Kids like this sometimes have a difficult time when their parents use "facts and logic" to invalidate their very real experience of life. A sensitive kid who grows up hearing things like "suck it up" "stop being a pussy" "life sucks but you get used to it" etc. is not going to identify with his or her upbringing later in life, in fact, they'll run away towards anything offering the understanding and validation they crave.
My parents were never like that, but I've known a lot of parents like that over the years. So much resentment builds up because the kid feels lost and alone in their own family without the anchor of unconditional love. They feel like acceptance is tied to a performance that doesn't feel true or right for them. They grow to suspect that their parents don't even love them and then fall susceptible to online communities offering that unconditional acceptance.
From my experience, it's usually the quiet younger sister or geeky brother in a large family that ends up like this. Kids with artistic tendencies are more likely to end up woke than those who like to play rough and work with their hands. Thoughtful, introspective, and introverted kids will gravitate towards woke if they don't have something else pulling them in. Also if they're diagnosed with something like ADHD or autism.
Basically, conservative parents lose their children due to a mismatch in style more so than a disagreement between actual values. That disagreement comes later, after the child has already slowly grown apart from the family they were raised in.
Woke has to resonate with something very strong in them that isn't being validated at home. Most kids see woke indoctrination in school and laugh it off like they do with the rest of the curriculum. It's more about what's happening prior to the propaganda than afterwards. I hope this makes sense.
So in short. Youthful Rebellion against Parents. Mixed with resentment over being raised in a way that frankly wasn’t overly touchy feely. To put it in basic parlance.
I mean I suppose I can understand. But at the same time. You don’t have many ways to drive it home. That irregardless of their feelings on the matter. Real life and wider society also doesn’t give a fuck about their feelings either.
Especially true when you’re raising sons. As Society views Males as more expendable.
I’ve seen kids raised in a feelings centered way with gobs of praise heaped on them for just managing to wake up on time. Self-destruct just as much as kids raised vice versa once real life hits and they stop getting told they’re special and their feelings matter every 5 minutes.
It’s very much a double-edged sword.
I think the feelings thing is less about lavishing praise over nothing and more about genuinely hearing out concerns. If a kid is saying they're in pain over something you think is small or unreasonable, I think it's helpful to figure out what's really going on and give them the benefit of the doubt.