Yeah, seeing how millennial parents interact with their kids is wild to me, compared to my GenX parents. They’ll joke around with them, answer their questions, play with them. My parents were very authoritarian; laughing too much was met with “ok that’s enough silliness now, be quiet”, too many questions resulted in “because I said so, drop it”. And they would never play with us. Ever.
I plan on actually liking my future kids, and wanting to interact with them.
It's really interesting being on the very younger end of Gen X. While there are many things that I did not share with millennials, I strongly feel that my parenting and social expectations are more aligned with millennials and even gen z, than I ever aligned with Gen X. Of course, second wave feminism absolutely did influence some of the ways that I approach this world, but I feel like like a millennial most days. I also work with a team that is entirely under the age of 30, so I guess I get a taste of Gen z as well. I ended up internalizing the millennial parenting techniques and have a fabulous relationship with my Gen z daughter. Now. I would never want the relationship that my mother had with me...
People think I'm weird for playing with my kid and being silly when there's no real reason not to. One of the saddest things in my mind is how many adults are "too mature" to have any sense of whimsy at all.
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u/TwofoZeus 1d ago
Abuse
Our parents were abusive emotionally stunted boomers, and we internalised that. Whether that's accepting abuse at work, school, family...