thanks for your perspective. I think it helps that you have pointed out that kids have alway been like this. prevents me from going down the rabbit hole of thinking - that kids these days are overly stimulated, need a consistent rush of dopamine from their electronic devices etc

cryotosensei

Those are both rough ages to deal with kids, but 6th grade is probably the more volatile. Interestingly, girls internalize and boys explode externally. Most of it is due to excess energy they need to work off. This is why, and I'm not a big athletics fan per se, required sports in school makes a difference. It forms teamwork skills and it burns off a lot of excess energy that gets into trouble at that age.