Gen X Raising Gen Z + Gen Alpha

Are we doing too much for our kids?

I have 2 kids, born in 2008 + 2012.

Every single day I think about how the youngest generations are being raised by us Gen X and Older Millenials.

How will our childhood and upbringing affect the way we parent our kids?

I would say my parents were strict about manners and behavior. If we threw a fit we got pulled from the situation we were in. There was no tolerance for misbehavior. Bad behavior had consequences. I didn’t get spanked, but I knew a lot of kids who did!!! Can you imagine what would happen if you did that in 2024?!

While I felt like we had a little more freedom as kids, biking and playing outside until after sunset. My brother and I did have curfews and guidelines.

I wasn’t allowed to do everything my friends were doing. It made me upset at the time, but looking back I know that my parents had my best interest in mind. I distinctly remember a middle school party, that ended with everyone running around playing ding dong ditch, my mom refused to let me stay. I was mortified, but as a parent now, I do understand her choice!! In High School, she NEVER would have let me go on the senior spring break trip to Mexico. I’ll be honest, I’m glad she didn’t allow it!!!

Sitting in front of the T.V. for hours was totally accepted, and we grew up with the first video games. If you didn’t rot for hours playing The Legend of Zelda at some point in your teen years, kudos to you!

Life as a teen in the 90’s was not like it is now. I’ll be honest, I hardly remember studying. I do remember doing projects, but I cannot remember doing homework. Am I alone?

Because we didn’t have cell phones or computers, we had to figure shit out. There was no easy way out. We HAD to read books, go to the library, and possibly research on a computer at school if we were lucky. I remember referring to Encyclopedia Brittanica! LOL! I don’t think those even exist anymore. It’s wild to think about life before Google and all the technology that our kids have at their fingertips.

Our generation was pretty resourceful. A lot of us were latchkey kids. We didn’t have our parents watching over or guiding our every move.

So, this makes me wonder why our generation is SO involved with our kids, almost to a fault. It begs the question, are we doing too much for our kids?