Nah, I don’t think so. My parents were older and grew up in the Depression and my dad was in the Navy in WWII. I don’t think that for a second they thought we kids had more to handle than their generation. As I mentioned up thread my brother missed the draft for Vietnam (it ended in '72, he was class of '73). I think they probably thought we were pretty spoiled, but they didn’t mind spoiling us a bit. They both grew up working. My mom on a farm and she literally rode a pony to school. My dad’s family lost the farm in the Depression, but they held onto the drug store where he worked as a soda jerk. Oh, and my mom’s oldest brother died of a degenerative disease when he was 9. And my dad’s father died when my dad was 15. My dad’s mom had a stroke with her first pregnancy (probably preeclampsia) with my aunt, but then went on to have my dad and his younger sister.
They never ever dwelled on any of that stuff. Everybody they grew up with had struggles. And really they knew that they were the fortunate ones. They had really fond memories of their childhoods and had great stories. They got through all that — the Depression, WWII, etc. There were plenty of people who didn’t. They recognized how good they had it and they were definitely living the post WWII American Dream. My parents just took it all in stride and wanted better for us than what they had.
I think that’s what all parents want and it’s hard to see the world now and feel like it’s going to be a better place.
I think that would be an interesting topic — Do you think your kids will be better off than you?