Thinking today about "laziness," the accusation that gets lobbed at children (especially teenagers) all the time. "Lazy" for not doing their homework, "lazy" for not paying attention in school, "lazy" for playing video games/reading novels/spending hours talking to friends...

And it seems to me that what is angering adults is not laziness, but resistance to authority. Children aren't being lazy, they're refusing to comply, pushing back against the demands that they shape their life to suit the adults who wield power over them.

If they did not choose to be in school, did not pick their classes or teachers, are not choosing what they study, what projects they focus on, what skills they learn... How is their looking around & going "I don't care about any of this" possibly seen as laziness?

It seems to me to be a wholly understandable & natural reaction to having virtually all control over their time & choices stripped away from them, leaving only narrow options of A or B adult-approved-activity.

Add to that the biases that rank more clearly "fun"/less clearly "educational" activities as lesser, unimportant & frivolous, & adults feel even more justified in looking down on the way many kids choose to spend their time...

Without seeing the valuable relaxation, joy, & yes, learning that is being gained from whatever "useless" activity a child has chosen.

I don't believe laziness exists at all, something I wrote about years ago: http://yes-i-can-write.blogspot.com/2014/08/i-dont-believe-in-laziness.html
And something that was also addressed in this fantastic piece by a professor: https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01

But this particular way that laziness does not exist strikes me as one that is not usually recognized. "Laziness" as an assertion of independence, a reclamation of their time, a refusal to shape themselves to the wishes of authority (whether consciously or not).