Millennial (currently between 18 and 34 years old) now has 75.4 million — more than any generation including the baby boomer generation. And now, these millennials are raising their children. So, is the way millennial parents raise their children different from previous generations?
1. Millennial parents are busier – but they spend more time with their children.
According to Gerson, one of the biggest misunderstandings about parenting today is that parents are not as loyal as they were decades ago. “Study shows that’s not the case,” Gerson said. Although many families now have two working parents, “the fact is that parents today spend more time on their children than parents in the 1950s.”
is not just mothers involved in their children’s lives more. According to research from the Boston College Center for Work and Family, fathers’ roles are also changing. Overall, millennial fathers are more keen on raising children than previous generations. In fact, many millennial families, especially those with two working parents, adopt a “co-raising” approach in which the responsibilities for everything related to the child are more or less shared equally by both parents.
This means that the struggle to find a balance between work and care is also shared by both parents. The Boston College study found that 85% of millennial fathers said they wanted to spend more time with their children.
2. Millennial parents value positive parenting rather than autocratic discipline.
"Around the mid-20th century, there was a huge shift in the notion that people thought strict discipline and physical strength were acceptable, or even good ways to limit behavior," Gerson said. Parents today are more likely to reinforce positive behaviors than punish negative behaviors.
But is this a good thing? “We are arguing whether we are going too far in the other direction,” Gerson said. “Do we often reward children when they don’t achieve great things?” According to Gerson, the jury has not come out.
3. Millennial parents value reunion (although not always during mealtime).
Many families still view dining as the time when everyone gets together, but the traditional 6:00 family dinner is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve: usually both parents are working and have little control over their schedules. “Wage workers may receive their schedules a few hours before work, and professionals may find in the morning that they expect to be late – all of this uncertainty makes it difficult to schedule a shared dinner.”
However, today’s parents still value spending time with their families – they just found a different time to do so. “For many families, weekends have become time to get together,” Gerson said.
4. Millennial parents (super) safe.
"Today, most families, regardless of their income or education level, want to keep their children as safe as possible," Gerson said. “For example, no one complains about buckle the child in a car seat. For families today, that’s exactly what a good parenting needs.”
How do millennial parents get most of the safety information? Of course it's the Internet! Millennial parents known as “digital natives” are the first generations who are always on hand to get safety tips. As this article in 2017 " New York Times " suggests, this is useful for them and may also be bad for them. They may have a lot of digital advice and apps to turn to, but it can be overwhelming – which can make parents question whether they are doing it right.
Anyway, they care very much about doing it right, so embrace the previously optional parenting gear like bicycle helmets, stroller seat belts and wide-brimmed sun hats to protect the child’s skin.
5. Many millennial parents tend to arrange everything – even free time.
The lives of children are more regular than those of the previous generation, which is no longer news - it directly reflects what happens in parents' work and life. “The work week has expanded … it has penetrated into the lives of kids,” Gerson said. “Liberty time is increasingly becoming something you have to pioneer now. For many middle-class families, it involves scheduling activities such as “play dates.”
6. Millennial parents understand that these early years are crucial – and fleeting.
"Parents today continue to make sacrifices for their children, although people believe that parents' sacrifices are decreasing," Gerson said. “Even in the new economic uncertainty, most parents are still doing their best to provide their children with everything they need to grow up and find a stable future in an increasingly unpredictable world.”
talks about saving money for their future, and this is a bit stunning statistics: According to Forbes magazine, 66% of millennials save money for their children’s college days, while only 47% of Generation X and 35% of Baby Boomers do the same.
This is a huge generational difference, but the truth remains that, at the end of the day, millennial parents are not much different from previous generations in wanting to love their children and do the right thing for them – their parents probably won’t do them. This may sound familiar to every parent.
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