We were born into a society where we played outside from sunrise to dusk. We rode our bikes miles away from our homes {usually sans helmet and without a cell phone}. We played in our front yards without a parent in sight. We grew up collecting Happy Meal toys because McD’s was a staple. Our parents weren’t concerned with “screen time” because our shows only came on at a certain time each week and truthfully if you didn’t have cable, there wasn’t much to choose from anyway.
Our childhoods were young, wild and free. We didn’t fear getting stolen from our front yard or people calling the cops because our mom left us in the car while she grocery shopped.
Our once innocent childhood was abruptly changed by an increase in school shootings. Fire and tornado drills turned into active shooter drills. Most of us have never walked through airport security with our shoes on and a full-size shampoo bottle in our carry-on.
We have grown up with technology, but luckily missed the social media boom during our already fragile tween and teenage years.
We were pressured into going to college without any real knowledge of the weight of student loan debt. Far too many of us have graduated with six-figures of debt, more than the cost of my first home.
We hit the job market when there weren’t any jobs. We bought homes and then the housing market crashed.
We are force-fed the idea being perfect; cooking healthy meals, being present at school activities, maintaining a great job, and making sure your kids have plenty of activities to help cultivate well-rounded humans. Oh, don’t forget your Pinterest worthy home and birthday parties. Oh, but you better not be looking at your phone! All eyes on your kids, at all times.
But here’s the thing, over the last two years I’ve seen so many posts about how sad it is for our kids to have to go through the pandemic and all the things that came with it. All the things they missed. Throw in the uncertainty of war lingering overseas, it’s a lot.
Rest easy, millennial parents.
These kids can handle it all. How do I know? Because look at us. We have jobs and homes, and are paying off thousands of dollars of student loan debt. We are really freaking doing it, guys. Sure, some days are better than others and we’ve all struggled along the way, but that’s what makes this journey worth it.
Our kids are going to be alright.
We value mental health way more than any generation before us because we know the weight of the world and the toll it takes on us. Many of us have read books to help understand our kids in a way we were never understood. We understand the impact of social media and technology. While we respect professional careers obtained by a college degree or two, we also value trade skills. We understand we hold the power to make societal changes. We are in the process of empowering our kids to continue to improve our world, too.
Millennials seem to be the butt of a lot of jokes; “spoiled,” “lazy,” and “entitled” are often terms associated with us. Maybe we are seen as lazy because we work smarter, not harder. We may be seen as lazy because we pivot when we hit a roadblock. Maybe we are entitled, but we value our worth and know what we deserve.
Never underestimate the impact you have made and the struggles you’ve overcome. The battles we’ve fought help us to empower the future generations to come.
