Millennial parents are raising their kids fine
Jim Sollisch/Gulf news
Each generation develops its own parenting style that is unique, open to interpretation
Part of the human condition is to believe in a more perfect place called the past. We are nostalgic creatures, convinced America, for instance, was a safer place in the 1960s even though the statistics argue otherwise. We’re sure people were more civil, despite all the assassinations, riots and cities literally burning. And in this mythic past, parenting was much easier than it is today.
Not distracted by all their devices and social media feeds, parents in the past could focus on their children. In the analogue land of yore, there were wholesome family dinners and game nights, fathers and mothers spending tons of quality time with their kids.
Today’s parents are a stressed bunch — not surprising since they’re part of the ‘Anxious Generation’. A recent study found that millennials report more stress and anxiety than any other generation. If you’re already anxious, wait till you add the duties of caring for a completely helpless little human. New parents are either worried that they are over-documenting their kids’ lives or that they haven’t downloaded the Baby Tracker app yet and so don’t know how many ounces of formula their child consumed yesterday. They are pretty sure they’re not living in the moment, even as they capture thousands of Instagram-worthy moments.
Dear parents of young children, I offer you this: You are way better parents than those mythical past parents, even on your worst days. You spend more quality time with your children. You feed them much better food. (And you don’t blow cigarette smoke in their faces while they eat.) You keep them way safer. You read to them more. You stimulate their curiosity more. You rarely say, “Because I said so.” You spank them less. And you don’t wash their mouths out with actual bars of soap.
The reason you don’t realise how much better you are is that you live in an age where you can never be a good enough parent. You are the collateral damage of a parenting arms race.