Young People
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Millennials are by and large disparaged as “The Participation Trophy” generation (ignoring the fact that they didn’t give the trophies to themselves). They
Maybe it’s time to stop blaming young people for liking different things and having different values. Because that’s been going on for centuries. They said it about your generation, no matter when it was. But maybe we can break that cycle. Starting now.
Millennials are by and large disparaged as “The Participation Trophy” generation (ignoring the fact that they didn’t give the trophies to themselves). They
Wait, they’re
really saying that?
They’re spoiled, used to getting everything their way and won’t even
eat cereal anymore because they don’t want to have to wash a dish (actually, while they did say it was inconvenient, the reason they don’t eat it is because they don’t have time or just want to eat something else). They’re
lazy, moving back in with their parents after college so they don’t have to
deal with the real world (millennials have a slightly higher unemployment rate and can’t afford to move out on their own when they want to because they’ve had a tougher time finding jobs than previous generations). No one would ever believe that millennials are more likely
to want to prove themselves by working
as much as possible and avoiding taking vacations.
Today, things are expensive. Millennials are delaying having children,
buying a house, and even leaving their parents’ homes, but it isn’t because
they’re afraid to deal with the real world. It’s because they
can’t afford it. Many
are in debt because of student loans they were told to take out because a
college degree was the only way they could ever get a job. But now they’ve
graduated and jobs are hard to find because of a
bad economy.
Maybe it’s time to stop blaming young people for liking different things and having different values. Because that’s been going on for centuries. They said it about your generation, no matter when it was. But maybe we can break that cycle. Starting now.
I think it's a mixture. My daughters are millennials. From what I've observed, their generation was considerably less prepared to live on their own than we were. "Less prepared" doesn't imply that they want to stay home and be taken care of, only that their coping skills aren't as fully developed. Couple that with fewer opportunities, higher cost of living and more student debt, and it's a very heavy burden we have placed on this generation. But as a group they seem to be surviving and even thriving. Now, if you could figure out a way to get my older one out of my house ...
ReplyDeleteIt's all about reaction, and the blame goes back to the Boomers. The Boomers were the worst parenting generation ever, providing almost no oversight of their children, who largely had a sense of being unloved, unappreciated, and unprotected.
ReplyDeleteSo Xers reacted by being overprotective and doing everything for their kids so that their kids would feel loved and appreciated and protected.