My theory - GenX vs Millennial parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at a college parent facebook page for a true read on the helicopter parents.

+1. Try University of MD for some laughs. JFC it is a shitshow. These parents are mostly genx with some younger boomers thrown in the mix.

+1

True of any school. I join just for the entertainment.

This reminds me of a friend whose parents insisted on coming with her to college orientation in ~2003 or so.

[Anonymous]

Gen X is older and hence their kids are older and so parents had more time to get used to ups and downs and not be so hands on.
I am not sure why you think Gen X parents were not more hands on when their kids were younger?
I sure was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at a college parent facebook page for a true read on the helicopter parents.

+1. Try University of MD for some laughs. JFC it is a shitshow. These parents are mostly genx with some younger boomers thrown in the mix.

+1

True of any school. I join just for the entertainment.

This reminds me of a friend whose parents insisted on coming with her to college orientation in ~2003 or so.

When I was visiting law schools, a number of students had parents with them at admitted students day. Some of them even asked questions about career outcomes, classes, etc. These were boomers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

Nah. You guys were the recent after school care was invented.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Millennial here. We all sort of think Gen X was the worst generation. So, maybe we just don’t want to be anything like you?

Right back at ya, sweetheart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

I think they think it makes them sound cool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

I think they think it makes them sound cool?

No. But it defines us because, while it became commonplace later, we were the first generation that had latchkey kids because we had working mothers. Yes, now, many families are like this, but when it happened in the 70s and 80s, there was no precedent for this. Boomers and silent generation kids were never left alone like that. Their parents always had a SAHM or the kids went with their parents to employment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Millennial here. We all sort of think Gen X was the worst generation. So, maybe we just don’t want to be anything like you?

I think boomers are the worst but X’ers have this insanely annoying need to be special / unique / laid back / not like other people and it’s so obnoxious

They do give off an intense “not like other girls” energy. Try hards hiding behind a facade of laid back nonchalance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

I think they think it makes them sound cool?

No. But it defines us because, while it became commonplace later, we were the first generation that had latchkey kids because we had working mothers. Yes, now, many families are like this, but when it happened in the 70s and 80s, there was no precedent for this. Boomers and silent generation kids were never left alone like that. Their parents always had a SAHM or the kids went with their parents to employment.

But I'm gen x and had a sahm. Lots and of us did. The latchkey thing is the same as divorce-- it became more common in the 70s/80s so there are more gen x who experienced it than other generations. But the mistake you make is in thinking it defines your entire generation and sets it apart from others. Nope. It defines YOUR life. You are not representative of your generation (no one is). You have experiences in common with both boomers and millennials, just like I do. Gen x is not this special exception some of you make it out to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

I think they think it makes them sound cool?

No. But it defines us because, while it became commonplace later, we were the first generation that had latchkey kids because we had working mothers. Yes, now, many families are like this, but when it happened in the 70s and 80s, there was no precedent for this. Boomers and silent generation kids were never left alone like that. Their parents always had a SAHM or the kids went with their parents to employment.

But I'm gen x and had a sahm. Lots and of us did. The latchkey thing is the same as divorce-- it became more common in the 70s/80s so there are more gen x who experienced it than other generations. But the mistake you make is in thinking it defines your entire generation and sets it apart from others. Nope. It defines YOUR life. You are not representative of your generation (no one is). You have experiences in common with both boomers and millennials, just like I do. Gen x is not this special exception some of you make it out to be.

Being a latchkey kid back then is literally what made me want to be a SAHM as an adult. Thankfully I was able to make that work. Glad your childhood was sunshine and lollipops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an older X that had kids late. So, most of my peers have kids that are older than ours, but I saw them parenting before I had kids. Most of the parents of my children's peers are millennials and I see them when our kids get together.

I have seen both types (relaxed vs helicopter) parents from every generation. I think the generalizations are stereotypes and you can't really stereotype based on age or generation.

You are me and I agree totally

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

I think they think it makes them sound cool?

No. But it defines us because, while it became commonplace later, we were the first generation that had latchkey kids because we had working mothers. Yes, now, many families are like this, but when it happened in the 70s and 80s, there was no precedent for this. Boomers and silent generation kids were never left alone like that. Their parents always had a SAHM or the kids went with their parents to employment.

But I'm gen x and had a sahm. Lots and of us did. The latchkey thing is the same as divorce-- it became more common in the 70s/80s so there are more gen x who experienced it than other generations. But the mistake you make is in thinking it defines your entire generation and sets it apart from others. Nope. It defines YOUR life. You are not representative of your generation (no one is). You have experiences in common with both boomers and millennials, just like I do. Gen x is not this special exception some of you make it out to be.

Being a latchkey kid back then is literally what made me want to be a SAHM as an adult. Thankfully I was able to make that work. Glad your childhood was sunshine and lollipops.

PP here. My SAHM mom had bipolar depression and my dad worked 12 hours days and had zero interest in us. My childhood sucked.

But I don't go around talking about how having a parent with serious mental illness or an absentee dad defines my generation. Those are things I experienced. Some gen x also experienced similar, so did some millennials (including my younger brother). But trying to extrapolate your experience to an entire generation is foolish. It's doubly foolish to assume that people of other generations must be your polar opposite because they were born 10 years later or had a different childhood. That's just life.

[Anonymous]

I’m an Xer with a silent generation SAHM with undiagnosed anxiety. Now I am a parent of an 8 year old. I’m mixed laid back, loving, and helicopters when necessary. Most of my kids’ friends’ parents are millennials. They are regally self involved. Like do triathlons and date nights but kids know how to swim completely or kids can only do one activity. They are more judge/ insecure. Now the gen Zs that work for me omg- all male and so over confident / clueless/ needy/ expecting to do only important things not the work that needs to be done.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t seen this but it would make some sense because the Gen y kids were helicoptered themselves so that’s what they grew up with. The Gen X kids grew up more free range and tend to be sort of more lax about most things in life anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The latchkey generation is handsoff with child rearing? Ya don't say....

Xers need to let this latchkey kid thing go. Do you think millennials suddenly had parents at home after school for some reason? No, ours were working too. We all ate bagel bites and watched trl unsupervised. Xers aren't special.

I think they think it makes them sound cool?

No. But it defines us because, while it became commonplace later, we were the first generation that had latchkey kids because we had working mothers. Yes, now, many families are like this, but when it happened in the 70s and 80s, there was no precedent for this. Boomers and silent generation kids were never left alone like that. [/b]Their parents always had a SAHM or the kids went with their parents to employment.[b]

That is a quite inaccurate statement and likely only describes middle-upper class families anyway. My dad who is 75 and thus firmly in the “boomer” generation was a latchkey kid of a single working mother. He grew up w many other kids who also were latchkey kids of dual-income families or single parent families. This was in a poor, working class area. There were no affordable childcare options for working mothers then and not all mothers could simply take kids to work w them (my grandmother couldn’t take my dad w to her workplace).