# Do the perceived problems of Millennials have to do with parenting today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 1, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942 "2018-08-01T18:50:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/21 "2018-08-02T01:58:38Z")
When grouchy old bigots are disappointed in modern youth for “not listening” to them and “complaining” too much and being “too sensitive”, that is often a positive sign that the youth are healthily rejecting the grouchy bigotry. > [@Silver lining](#): > > Granted some Dad’s back then weren’t afraid of spanking their children or taking something of value away to alter behavior. These days that’s frowned upon. > > Anyone buying into this, as a reason why the Millennial generation according to the Baby Boomers 1946- 1964 and Generation X’ers 1965-1982 have the problems we think they have? Nah. Disapproval of spanking as a form of parental discipline has been widespread at least since the Generation X’ers’ childhood. And AFAICT the parents of Millennials have no hesitation whatsoever about using the “taking something of value away” technique. The Millennial kids I know understood what “lose a privilege” meant before they were four years old. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/22 "2018-08-02T02:02:14Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > . . . , the only generational cohort that I think is generally spoiled, unreasonable, narcissistic, and odious as a group are Baby Boomers. Meh. The Boomers were such a large cohort, (hence boom), and the name was given to kids born for such a long period of time, that picking on them is rather like picking on Millennials. Boomers get blamed for the loss in Vietnam on the claim that they would not go fight, yet polls report that over half the Boomers supported the war up until the general society turned against it. Over half the names on the memorial wall are Boomers. Then there is the problem of claiming that the opinions, attitudes, and actions of people born in 1946 are in lockstep with those of people born in 1964. As terrible as they are, as recently as five years ago, Boomers were the [most disposed to giving to charities](https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2013/08/08/charitable-giving-baby-boomers-donate-more-study-shows/#3049940231c8). Hating any group because of their birthdate will generally result from poor analysis and result in silly claims. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/23 "2018-08-02T03:24:03Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The Boomers were such a large cohort, (hence boom), and the name was given to kids born for such a long period of time, that picking on them is rather like picking on Millennials. Milennials don’t have a large block of political power that they’ve used to strip mine the economy for their personal benefit at the expense of future generations and remove worker protections that they benefited from. The fact that you ramble on about Vietnam highlights how self-centered boomers are; Vietnam is only accorded it’s special status because it was a controversy that affected Baby Boomers. > [@](#): > > As terrible as they are, as recently as five years ago, Boomers were the [most disposed to giving to charities](https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2013/08/08/charitable-giving-baby-boomers-donate-more-study-shows/#3049940231c8). > Hating any group because of their birthdate will generally result from poor analysis and result in silly claims. Your cite doesn’t show that they are the most disposed towards giving to charities. Instead, it shows that as a group they give the most total. This doesn’t show much about their disposition, as they are a much larger group than any of the other groups, and have much more disposeable wealth than the younger groups. If everyone was equally disposed to give to charity, the largest, richest group would be the one that ends up giving the most. Claiming that Millennials don’t care about Charity as much as Boomers do because they’re saddled with massive student loan debt and making less per hour (adjusted for inflation) than Boomers did at their age due to the policies Boomers have pushed is also pretty suspect. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/24 "2018-08-02T03:53:45Z")
It’s always the parents fault. We foolishly fail to foretell what kind of societal changes will affect our children. Parents almost never bother to account for the technological developments that will change the way the world works ten years before they happen so that they could prepare their children. I certainly made no effort to tell my kids about a catastrophic terrorist attack during their mid-teens that would reverberate through the culture and lead to war and economic disaster. So yeah, blame the parents. We just have no idea what we are doing. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/25 "2018-08-02T04:34:19Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Vietnam is only accorded it’s special status because it was a controversy that affected Baby Boomers. Wellup, I think it’s fair to say that Vietnam is also memorable for being part of a cultural upheaval in the US unequalled at least since the “Jazz Age” 1920s and possibly since the Civil War. It was not just the Boomers who thought it was a seriously big deal. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/26 "2018-08-02T06:27:38Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > No. > > I mean when was the parents meeting where there was a vote held to change how to raise kids? > > “These damn kids today” is a story as old as stories. [Like this one!](http://nonadventures.com/2015/09/19/the-kids-are-all-blight/) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/27 "2018-08-02T06:37:23Z")
I would say that in _some_ regards Millennials are better than the generation that came before, and as for their problems, I would blame it more on society, entertainment and culture rather than parenting. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/28 "2018-08-02T06:59:33Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > [Kids](https://genius.com/Original-broadway-cast-of-bye-bye-birdie-kids-lyrics) > > From the 1963 musical Bye Bye Birdie, expressing displeasure with the generation that an advocate for a return the the 1950s was voicing They made BBB into a 1963 film with an all-star cast. Here’s “Kids”: The film starts with Ann-Margret signing the title song. Can you imagine the effect on a pubescent boy? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1t3cBTb3xPc/hqdefault.jpg "Ann-Margret BYE BYE BIRDIE title song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t3cBTb3xPc) ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/29 "2018-08-02T07:12:40Z")
Just be glad you missed the really bad times…the 50’s apparently were a lot better, the 50’s BCE that is. > [@](#): > > Our sires’ age was worse than our grandsires’. We, their sons, are more > worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more > corrupt. – Quintus Horatius Flaccus 20 BC ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/30 "2018-08-02T11:35:36Z")
And, how about their music! It’s all eff this and n-that. It’s all screaming and too loud. The drums sound like some African tribe. Music was better in my day, amirite? –Just about every grandfather ever (with the specific complaints changed, of course) Jeez, OP, just how old are you? I just love how the same complaints about kids (and immigrants, for that matter) have all been around forever. My uncle, a solid boomer and classic rock lover, was complaining about music today. I told him he sounds just like my grandfather (his father) who had the same complaints about '60s and '70s rock. Everyone knows that '80s music was the best, anyway – Wide Boy Awake FTW! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/31 "2018-08-02T12:29:49Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And AFAICT the parents of Millennials have no hesitation whatsoever about using the “taking something of value away” technique. The Millennial kids I know understood what “lose a privilege” meant before they were four years old. By that I think you mean “had”. Millennials are all grown now. In fact I originally parsed this statement as “Millennials have no hesistation whatsoever about…” since I think of them more as parents than as children. Anyone who is still a child is not a millennial. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/32 "2018-08-02T12:32:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > By that I think you mean “had”. You’re right, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/33 "2018-08-02T12:39:52Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > As to singling out Millennials for public abuse, that is nothing more than the current “Let’s pick on an age group” theme that I have watched for my whole life. It is pretty stupid, but it just seems to be something in which people enjoy engaging…Hating any group because of their birthdate will generally result from poor analysis and result in silly claims. Typical of boomers, spoiling everyone else’s fun. :mad: Next you’ll be telling us that we should look at people as individuals, not faceless members of a mythical group. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/34 "2018-08-02T14:27:06Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Wellup, I think it’s fair to say that Vietnam is also memorable for being part of a cultural upheaval in the US unequalled at least since the “Jazz Age” 1920s and possibly since the Civil War. It was not just the Boomers who thought it was a seriously big deal. So you’re saying that the Great Depression, New Deal, World War II, and start of the Cold War didn’t involve enough cultural upheaval to matter? And that Vietnam is so important that it eclipses the end of the Cold War, shift to extreme politcal polarization, 9/11 and the beginning of the endless War on Terror, or any modern upheaval? This is just more Boomer narcissim- “the era that defines me is clearly of more cultural importance than anything that happened to my parents, or anything that will happen to you kids, Vietnam forever!” ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/35 "2018-08-02T16:26:13Z")
Agreed that the real social transformation was not the 60s, but the 30s and 40s. The Depression and World War II changed America radically. The reason Baby Boomers were so different and weird is that they were the ones who grew up in the new America. That was the source of the generation gap. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/36 "2018-08-02T16:45:18Z")
I’m just glad that everyone has forgotten about Gen X. All the complaining about millennials is just copypasta of the complaining about GenXers in the ‘90s (with some substitutions like “always staring at their phones” replacing "always watching TV’). As time goes on, the “lazy” generation has moved later and later. The “grumpy” generation seems stuck at “baby boomers” forever. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/37 "2018-08-02T16:53:08Z")
[quote=“septimus, post:28, topic:818942”] The film starts with Ann-Margret signing the title song. Can you imagine the effect on a pubescent boy? [/QUOTE] Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. Serious _ouch_. (And clearly we have different tastes in terms of what we consider sexy, but that’s a more subjective thing.) ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/38 "2018-08-02T17:02:18Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. Serious _ouch_. (And clearly we have different tastes in terms of what we consider sexy, but that’s a more subjective thing.) What? How can you not think Ann-Margret is sexy? I get that her voice could not be someone’s cup of tea, but it’s freaking Ann-Margret! Are you blind, man?! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/39 "2018-08-02T17:14:18Z")
> [@senoy](#): > > What? How can you not think Ann-Margret is sexy? I get that her voice could not be someone’s cup of tea, but it’s freaking Ann-Margret! Are you blind, man?! 🙂 I watched maybe 30 seconds with the sound off, and…meh. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942/40 "2018-08-02T17:19:26Z")
I don’t know how old **Silver lining** is (it doesn’t sound like he himself is a millennial), but something I find fascinating is just how many [conservative] millennials have bought into this notion that millenials are lazy, entitled whiners. It feeds nicely into the conservative superiority complex, like if they sit down next to the crazy old man yelling at kids on his lawn and yell even louder, they get to feel better than their peers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-perceived-problems-of-millennials-have-to-do-with-parenting-today/818942.md?page=3)