Generation Difference in Parenting

THINGS ARE DIFFERENT now than what it used to be during our parents’ and grandparents’ age. Reminiscing about one’s childhood becomes a habit when one becomes a parent. When a person becomes a parent, they look back at their own childhood to try to remember the lessons that they learned, in order to pass it on to their own children.

Identities, culture and attitudes change through time, and the outlook on the attitudes and practices of parenting also changes and has changed through the generations. Different generations of parents have different philosophies and ideas but that doesn’t make one generation better than the other, it just means that they are different.

Here are a few things that have changed in the philosophies of parenting over the generations:

Unmarried Parents

Although millennials are having children, many remain unmarried. The idea of marriage has changed over the generations and the percentage of women who got married by the time they gave birth to their first child has dropped by half. Similarly, the number of unmarried pregnant women has also increased.

Internet Parenting

Many parents these days seek advice not just from friends and family but from online sources as well. Many people find it easier and less time consuming to look for answers directly from online sources than with their own peers. This is a practice that had never been followed before, making it a new philosophy for millennial parents.

More Screen Time for Children

While millennial parents allow more screen time to their children, the Baby Boomer generation was reluctant about allowing their children so much screen time. While it has been established that allowing children increasing amounts of screen time has significant negative impacts on their growth and behaviour.

On one hand, being able to use technology has its advantages, it also has its significant negatives as it can become addictive. 

The Helicopter Parenting Generation

Baby Boomer parents, in addition to taking a child-centered approach when it came to raising their kids, have also been known as the "Helicopter Parent Generation.”

Helicopter parents are notoriously known as the group of ever-protective, overanxious, and hyper-controlling parents. The parenting style, characterized by a helicopter-like tendency to hover over children and swoop in to rescue them at the first sign of trouble.

While many parents expect their kids to be more independent by the time they reach college age, helicopter parents never stop supporting them. This has arguably caused a co-dependency issues where millennials just don't seem to leave the nest. (Source: Babygaga; Huff Post)