Our kids and their friends work much harder than we ever did. As far as I can tell, they are pretty much always online with work . We were deliberately looking for lives with more balance than those of our parents. We have worked as little as we could get away with. I am just interested to see if the kids retire early. They enjoy their jobs.
I don’t know what coddling really means. We are there for them. If they ask, we help to the limit of our ability. Since that is how I was raised, that just looks like paying it forward to me.
Many of us found this board while looking for college help for ambitious, competitive, high achievers. I don’t see that personality type slowing down after graduation.
Most of the millennial s I know wear me out just watching them.
Adding… my kids and their friends have finished college or professional school. Some of you are writing about teens.
My son and daughter in law, on parental leave, didn’t go to the office but rarely put down their devices. They just seem to multi task. Employers seem much more than satisfied
Generation Xer here, born in the year of the baby bust for bias detection.
A few themes here.
Yes, it is hard to generalize and individual variation is probably larger than generational variation.
I do agree that it is easier to focus on self-actualization when you have resources to back up any failures or slow starts.
I also think that there is an increasing trend for work-life balance. I actually think this is good. No one appreciates a slacker, but if you can perform with non-standard hours, why not.
One factor that I have not seen discussed is that maybe the millennials perceive that the other side of the bargain isn’t really there? Many recent studies have shown that there is (relatively) rapid slowing in economic mobility. Growing economic inequality and slowing economic mobility probably don’t help career dedication.
And now, as befits my age, get off my lawn. (Edit to add emoticon if it wasn’t obvious.)
@Dave_N that’s a good point about the other side of the bargain not always being there. If you’re going to pay your dues, there has to be an eventual payoff for that.
To be perfectly honest, all our kids, the millennials, give me hope for the future.
If parenting matters at all, and I’m not convinced it does as much as we would like to believe, we deserve to be pleased and proud of what we have accomplished. Imho. Ymmv
I find it ironic that everyone complains about millenials, yet my recent experience is that everyone wants to hire them over the boomers and gen-x.
I honestly have not had a bad work experience with millenials. In fact, I am grateful that they have pushed for work life balance that has allowed me to work from home in the past five years or leave on time when I go to the office as well as generous vacation time. Many years ago I had to put up with “face time”. You were not considered committed to your job if you left at 5. Those that played the game got promotions and nice bonuses. However, if you looked closely, some were unproductive most of the day and then stayed late to look good. I also had to manage a 6 week maternity leave and no paternity leaves existed. So, for the most part we are better off now as far as work life balance is concerned . It does not make me less dedicated or less productive to work at home or leave on time . In fact, I find that I am less stressed if I am not watching the clock.
Remember, millenials do not have all the other perks us older folks had when we entered the workforce. There were things such as: entry level jobs that did not require two years experience, pensions, fully paid healthcare, annual raises and most of all, job security. For all the dedication and face time, we still got laid off when they were cutting costs and guess who was the child of the parents that got laid off or the parents that could not get there on time to see the play or the latch key kids? It was the current millenials.
Maybe it’s just who I know but I don’t know anyone like the millenials described here. My millenial friends are grateful for their jobs. I say job because MANY are working more than one just to make ends meet. Not easy when pay hasn’t gone up in years and we’re graduating with ~30k in debt.
I don’t know too many people who came from privilege though. Our parents didn’t coddle us. We’ve been working since we were 16 and worked through college too.
If Millenials are demanding humane work conditions, maternity leave, etc like every other developed country in the world- then damn good for them.
If a millenial is overly coddled, then wouldn’t at least part of the blame be on his/her boomer/Xer parents for overly coddling him/her when s/he was growing up? I.e. boomers/Xers complaining about overly coddled millenials may want to ask their peers about parenting practices.
^We are talking about someone else’s kid not our own That is except my dentist. My dentist loves his kids but also complains about his kids who are finishing up dental and medical school. He is a bit astonished at their expectations. They don’t want to work on Saturdays or odd hours. For him, it’s whenever he’s needed. I like that the younger generation is seeking more balance. I really don’t want my only child work 24 hours a day to be successful or else become a slacker. Something in between sounds good to me, work on something interesting and maintain a happy family life. I also think they are more democratic and shun the quasi military style management in corporations. I think they don’t mind taking a Saturday shift if it’s shared by everyone instead of it being a newbies’ rite of passage. I can’t argue with that.
Late Baby Boomer here. I did the post grad gap year…not to sleep on my parents’ couch, but to go to Paris. I came from zero privilege, so I had to save for years, but I did realize that I had my whole life to work and not a better time to escape for a bit. So I did.
I came back after a year, and did live with parents for six months, but during that time I worked two jobs (substitute teacher by day, restaurant hostess by night) to save for a car and money to rent an apartment. Got a full time job after six months and fled the nest immediately, never to return.
I wouldn’t change a thing. As they say in Casablanca,, I’ll “always have Paris.”
That is except my dentist. My dentist loves his kids but also complains about his kids who are finishing up dental and medical school. He is a bit astonished at their expectations. They don’t want to work on Saturdays or odd hours. For him, it’s whenever he’s needed. I like that the younger generation is seeking more balance. I really don’t want my only child work 24 hours a day to be successful or else become a slacker. Something in between sounds good to me, work on something interesting and maintain a happy family life. I also think they are more democratic and shun the quasi military style management in corporations. I think they don’t mind taking a Saturday shift if it’s shared by everyone instead of it being a newbies’ rite of passage. I can’t argue with that.