There is a lot of debate about who the worst living generation is, with the central conflict being between Baby Boomers and Millennials. Cursed groups who can’t stand each other. The short story is that Baby Boomers think Millennials are entitled whiners that don’t know how to save money so they can buy a house and go to Applebee’s for dinner on special occasions. Millennials think Baby Boomers don’t realize how easy they had it and that they’ve basically ruined everything for everyone else. Where you fall in that argument might depend on your age.
An Imgur user who goes by the name YourWeirdTeacher posted a break down of their experience with both those generations, plus the missing link between them: Gen X. A teacher is in a unique position to observe large swathes of people year after year, bringing their kids to the classroom the same time. The teacher ages, the parents and kids don’t all that much, they just shift generationally. YourWeirdTeacher writes that they’ve been time suspended in a biological science class for both middle and high school for many years. In honor of the new school year, they decided to share some generalizations about the parents they’ve encountered in that time. They started off with this image:
Are they? The teacher refused to share their own generational category, they say to avoid discussions of bias. Hating Gen X is sort of out of left field, since we only ever hear about millennials and boomers, but please continue.
Baby Boomers
Our teach says they don’t encounter as many Baby Boomers anymore, presumably because they’re mostly too old to have kids in middle school. But they shared past observations:
The Good: Invested in their children and their futures, meet with me when requested, will listen to what I have to say, will (usually) use my suggestions with their children
The Bad: Demanding, rude, impatient
The Ugly: They know best…about everything. Nothing is more frustrating than having someone completely unexperienced with your profession tell you how to do it. / They get angry the easiest, and they will go BALLISTIC. The only time I had to call the school resource officer (police officer stationed at the school) was to escort out a baby boomer whom I requested a conference with.
Gen X
Ah, our teacher’s nemesis. They say they mostly deal with parents of the Gen X generation, which may explain the hate. Our current enemy is our worst enemy:
The Good: They’ve got a good sense of humor about things, and they provide (materialistically) well for their kids.
The Bad: There are 2 main kinds of Gen X parents. The majority fit into the first- They don’t have much to do with their kids. I’m not saying they don’t care about them, they just don’t seem to invest too much time or emotional support into them, and instead put most of it into themselves and their partner. My co-workers and I often refer to them as “the generation that wanted kids, but didn’t want to be parents.” They also refuse to discipline their kids in any way, which is quite evident in the students’ behavior if I’m honest.
The Ugly: The second type. Hoo boy, do I hate these parents. The ones who believe their kid is a perfect angel that can do no wrong, and any problem they are having is my or the school’s fault. No matter what you tell these parents, and no matter what their child has done, they always shift the blame to someone else. A quick side note: The largest amount of anti-vax, pseudo-science/homeopathic medicine-believing parents I’ve had to deal with belong to this generation. Many stories about that, but I will save them for another post. I will type no more, for I am weary.
Nooo! I want to know more now!
Millennials
YourWeirdTeacher says Millennial parens have only recently begun to spring up in the classroom, so these findings may be premature. Perhaps in time they’ll come to hate the Millennials as much as the Gen Xers:
The Good: Polite, good listeners, really take my advice to heart, care about their kids
The Bad: Timid, naive, and tend to overreact/blow things out of proportion
The Ugly: Most of these parents are good at disciplining their kids, but some fall in to the Type 2 gen x category, and some…just…well. I’ve had a couple millennial parents go into Gordon Ramsay-esque tirades on their children. It’s scary, and not how you should deal with your children having a problem or being in trouble.
YourWeirdTeachers finishes by saying they hope these generalizations don’t “ruffle any feathers.” Um, they absolutely will. The only thing every generation can agree on is how much worse everybody else is.