Mother Tongue
By Kristen Taylor
The Millenials: Will We Ever Let Them Grow Up?
Last month I attended my 20th college reunion, where my friends and I goofed around for two days, with no one very interested in hashing over anything serious. At one point we ran into a woman there attending her 40th reunion, and she made me realize that the differences between her Baby Boomer class and my Generation X class were rather large. She said, “Everyone was so competitive at our 20th reunion. This time, we just relaxed and enjoyed each other.” My class had obviously started relaxing about twenty years earlier.
So the Boomers were the ambitious and competitive ones, and Gen X were the slackers. No big surprise there. But what of the next generation, the kids born between 1980 and 2000?
The Millenials are the kids whose parents have been called the “helicopter parents,” because of the way that they micromanaging their children’s lives. These parents have been known to accompany their kids to college interviews…even to job interviews.
This parenting style may have trickled down to college administrators. The presumed ability of 20-year-olds to take care of themselves had all but disappeared at my alma mater. There was an increased security presence on campus that seemed more about checking up on the students than protecting them. There were signs advising kids that during finals week a guy named Chad would be available most hours if they were having computer problems. And there was linen service in the dormitories. Apparently doing your own laundry can get in the way of college success.
There’s parental involvement, there’s institutional oversight, and then there’s hovering. As an often denigrated Gen-X slacker, I’m a little worried that my kids will grow up to be known as the Millenial Wusses. My kids won’t ever need my help with tech support, but they will certainly do their own laundry.