Parenting Perspectives from a Xennial
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I love learning about generational human behaviors. I also resent them, because it creates a completely make-believe boundary and sometimes makes people forget each other’s humanity.
I have worked through it, but for a few years, I felt some very real anger towards the baby boomer generation. I don’t think I was consciously aware of this at the time, but as I am writing this, I realize I let it go almost two years ago when my father (born in the, er, classically aged year of 1949) expressed the same anger for them. And then I got it. No one got here with clairvoyance. I have made bad decisions, large and small. And while I might recognize where he fits in the overall energy of the boomer generation, just because I see this doesn’t make him (or anyone) blind to their own weaknesses either.
I have actually been working on pitching a column specifically geared toward my parents’ generation, because, guys, a lot of them are just really, really confused and scared and lost. And worried about all of us. And I get it. Their methods might not be correct, but a lot of the time I really do think they are trying to make the best or “correct” decision in a time when that is absolutely, 100% not possible anymore, but they don’t even see that. They were raised in tradition…
