Gen x / millennial q

[Anonymous]

I’ve often heard (and seen) that parents today are much more involved in kids’ lives than parents in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if part of it is because the childhoods of gen x and millennials are not all that different from the childhoods of kids these days. In contrast, the childhood of my boomer parents was sooooo different from my 1980s childhood. I know there’s social media now, but that isn’t such a huge leap from the mindset of the 1980s. Whereas there just seems to be a bigger leap from 1950s childhood to 1980s childhood. This thought just occurred to me as I’m watching my kids watch my little pony, which seems very similar to cartoons of my 1980s youth.

[Anonymous]

I think social media makes a much bigger difference than 60s to 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think social media makes a much bigger difference than 60s to 80s.

I guess. My kids are early elementary and still aren’t using it so I guess I’m thinking more from that perspective.

[Anonymous]

My childhood was more like the 1930s (living on a farm, no tv, homemade clothes, not a lot of stuff). In some ways my kid's life is more like her great-grandparents-living in a working class city neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

Ummm no that was just an example. Another example: the emphasis on organized sports and extracurriculara in school. I don’t think that was a thing in the 1950s? But definitely a thing in the 1980s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

Ummm no that was just an example. Another example: the emphasis on organized sports and extracurriculara in school. I don’t think that was a thing in the 1950s? But definitely a thing in the 1980s

Let me add/. It definitely wasn’t a thing for girls in the 1950s! So my parents being faced with all that for me, a girl, in the 1980s, faced a new type of childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My childhood was more like the 1930s (living on a farm, no tv, homemade clothes, not a lot of stuff). In some ways my kid's life is more like her great-grandparents-living in a working class city neighborhood.

This is a really interesting point. My grandfather grew up in tenements, and I asked him once when I was little ( after a fun touristy trip into the city) of he didn’t miss living in the exciting big city. He said “ and have people on top below next to you all the time? The noise alone would drive me crazy!and the smells!” He was very proud of his suburban house. He’d probably think I was crazy to be voluntarily living in a city apt now (although to be fair, it is far from a tenement).

[Anonymous]

In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My childhood was more like the 1930s (living on a farm, no tv, homemade clothes, not a lot of stuff). In some ways my kid's life is more like her great-grandparents-living in a working class city neighborhood.

This is a really interesting point. My grandfather grew up in tenements, and I asked him once when I was little ( after a fun touristy trip into the city) of he didn’t miss living in the exciting big city. He said “ and have people on top below next to you all the time? The noise alone would drive me crazy!and the smells!” He was very proud of his suburban house. He’d probably think I was crazy to be voluntarily living in a city apt now (although to be fair, it is far from a tenement).

My great grandfather, too, said not to romanticize the past because it was smelly. He was being funny but I'm sure there is truth to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

Ummm no that was just an example. Another example: the emphasis on organized sports and extracurriculara in school. I don’t think that was a thing in the 1950s? But definitely a thing in the 1980s

Let me add/. It definitely wasn’t a thing for girls in the 1950s! So my parents being faced with all that for me, a girl, in the 1980s, faced a new type of childhood.

Not so many serious sports for girls in the 50s, but my mom played half court basketball, was active in the Catholic Youth Organization and parish activities, and did theatre at school. She also did swim, art, and sewing lessons. Weird to think about it now, because her family was super dysfunctional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my family, moms have always worked at least parttime, so maybe different from many families in the US where the 1980s was the first time there was a working mom.

That’s another great point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

Ummm no that was just an example. Another example: the emphasis on organized sports and extracurriculara in school. I don’t think that was a thing in the 1950s? But definitely a thing in the 1980s

Let me add/. It definitely wasn’t a thing for girls in the 1950s! So my parents being faced with all that for me, a girl, in the 1980s, faced a new type of childhood.

Not so many serious sports for girls in the 50s, but my mom played half court basketball, was active in the Catholic Youth Organization and parish activities, and did theatre at school. She also did swim, art, and sewing lessons. Weird to think about it now, because her family was super dysfunctional.

That’s awesome! My mom described her youth activities as home economics class, going to the beach with tin foil to tan, and entering into beauty contests!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding b? You think our childhoods are similar because there is My Little Pony?

I was left to my owns devices every day from the age of 5. I don’t care that my kid can watch the Flintstones and so did I: our lives are NOTHING alike.

Ummm no that was just an example. Another example: the emphasis on organized sports and extracurriculara in school. I don’t think that was a thing in the 1950s? But definitely a thing in the 1980s

Let me add/. It definitely wasn’t a thing for girls in the 1950s! So my parents being faced with all that for me, a girl, in the 1980s, faced a new type of childhood.

My parents were born in 1946, so literally first year of the baby boom. Between the two of them, they participated in scouts, took piano lessons, hung out at the pool, rode bikes around town, were safety patrols and played on the local little league team. Their suburban Silver Spring upbringing wasn't a ton different from my own Rockville upbringing. There were definitely more organized sports for both my brother and I (born early 1970s) but we were still frequently left to our own devices for several hours of the day to do what we pleased.