Grace Boyle*
I grew up listening to stories from my father, who against his will was sent to fight in Vietnam, grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, saw the fight for civil rights and often disagreed against conventionalism from his parents. During that time there was a large uproar for change and the generation (Baby Boomers) challenging their parents thoughts, traditions and beliefs.
I however, get along with my Baby Boomers parents wonderfully. A survey titled, “Forty Years After Woodstock, A Gentler Generation Gap,” from the Pew Research Center backs up my (for the most part) glowing relationship with my parents while also touching on our inevitable differences.
Parenting Ties:
Let’s start from the beginning. In terms of parenting, only 10% of survey respondents with a child over 16 say they’ve often had major disagreements with the child in his or her late teens or early 20s. But 19% of parents say they had major disagreements with their parents.
Furthermore, there’s a connection of actually spending more times with their Generation Y children. Nearly half (48%) of all parents with children 16 or younger say they are spending more time with their children than their parents spent with them, up from 42% in a survey conducted for Newsweek magazine in 1993.
Greatest Generation Divide:
Despite positive parenting reviews, we still disagree. The greatest gap and difference the Pew studied showed was the technology divide. My mother often complains that it’s so hard and challenging for her to write a blog post on Blogger, navigate her new cell phone or even work the television. I don’t think twice, when fiddling with wires, playing with a new gadget or the online world. I live and breathe it, because I know no other way. Generation Y grew up with it and quite honestly, it’s second nature.
Here’s where the differences lie between Boomer’s and Generation Y. The percentage of those surveyed who say younger and older people are “very” different in:
• The way they use computers and new technologies: 73%
• The music they like: 69%
• Their work ethic: 58%
• Their moral values: 54%
• The respect they show others: 53%
• Their political views: 43%
• Their religious beliefs: 41%
• Their attitudes toward different races and groups: 34%
Despite Differences, We “Get” Each Other:
As my father and mother questioned their parent’s conservative World War II era lifestyle and “old-fashioned” beliefs I have less to challenge and stand up to my parents about. They did much of the molding. My progressive and open-mind is largely because of them. Sure I disagree (oh teenage years) but finding common ground with them isn’t hard.
Tracing back, “part of Baby Boomers challenging the status quo might have played more into the fact that they were challenging their parents,” says Matt Heineman, 26, a freelance filmmaker in New York. “We’re not necessarily challenging our parents. We’re trying to figure out what challenges of the world to take on.”
This is a comparison I never considered before. Now that I think of my relationship with my parents and for the most part, my friends’ and their parents, I see the similarities. No doubt, there will always be differences between generations and my family isn’t everyone else’s family, but ultimately both groups have a strong connection.
David Morrison, 41, of Twentysomething Inc., a Philadelphia consulting and research firm agrees, “Generation Y gets their Boomer parents. They fully understand where they’re coming from. And Boomer parents, in part, get Generation Y.”
How do you feel about your relationship with your parents? Do you find more of a divide or do you agree that you’re able to find common ground and get along?
* Grace Boyle is a 23 year-old adventurist. She lives in Boulder, CO and does Business Development for startup called Lijit. She blogs at Small Hands, Big Ideasinteract by meeting new people (regardless of their generation). and loves to interact by meeting new people (regardless of their generation).
Yours sounds like a wonderful family. As a boomer parent I’m still amazed that so many Generation Ys have divorced parents. It seems even more common than having married biological parents who are still together.
As a university professor I’ll share a common observation among my colleagues: Many Generation Ys present themselves with an apparent entitlement to get what they want when they want it and that others are there to serve them. Am I alone in these observations?