Have baby boomers raised a generation of millennials who can't seem to manage reality with firmness and resilience? Following the loss of Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump in the last U.S. elections, images showing millennials crying their hearts out caused a ruckus on the internet. Many say that the anxious generation was brought on by the way baby boomers parented their kids.
According to PJ Media, the millennials' reaction to Clinton's loss indicated that baby boomers have raised college-age young adults who are "volatile" and "incompetent." The article cites that this young generation has been coddled and protected from loss, frustration, failure and disappointments by their parents, so much so that they have not prepared for the reality that Clinton won't be president.
It was baby boomers who popularized parenting styles like no spanking, or befriending their children, or rewarding them with trophies or ribbons as kids simply because they participated in games and contests. It was baby boomers who raised millennials in a sheltered environment through helicopter parenting, with moms or dads micro-managing everything for the children.
As a result, millennials are throwing "tantrums" at the slightest offense. They are on the streets holding protests against the incoming government. They are also "tender and delicate" and riddled with anxiety issues, according to the New York Post.
But following the social revolution in the '70s and '80s, millennials are navigating in a new and exciting environment brought about by the digital revolution. According to Time, the younger generations' self-involvement is not exclusively theirs. Even previous generations reflected this trait.
The only difference is, today, millennials are in a completely different digital environment and they are best at using technology to bring positive changes. "Their great mantra has been: Challenge convention. Find new and better ways of doing things," elder journalist Tom Brokaw said. The Time report also describes millennials as "pragmatic idealists, tinkerers more than dreamers, life hackers," whose leaders can come from anyone in their ranks because they were raised to treat each one as equals.
