In Part 1 of this post, I listed some common stereotypes about the past several generations, specifically about their parenting styles and the effects those styles are supposed to have had on their kids.

Again, I’m interested in the perceived stereotypes about these generational parenting styles, and how they’re understood in popular culture. Not whether they are true, or how true they are.

So, looking back in 10 or 20 years, what will people say about Millennials as parents? How will we have succeeded, how will we have erred, and will popular opinion trace those errors back to some over-correction against our parents? What about the next two generations after us?

My predictions.

Millennials: Popular culture and think pieces will inform Millennials (my generation) that all the independence and adversity have been sanitized out of childhood. This trend had already begun when we were growing up, but when we look at Gen Z, we see that it has not yet crescendoed. We will be somewhat unique in that we react more to the generation behind us than to our parents. We will worry about a lack of grit in our kids, set out to reintroduce independence and adversity to our their lives.

The pendulum is already moving back this way. But, Millennials will tend to take it too far. We will do weird stuff, like try to send our kids to sleep away Navy Seal Camp, or sign them up for music lessons with this guy:

Trying to manufacture opportunities for struggle and perseverance will have unintended consequences. Sometimes the experiences themselves will backfire in unexpected ways. Other times, our kids will see through our game and just not play. They will be more savvy than we expect, because they will be cynical-internet-natives; unlike us, they will have their guard up against social media that attempts to steal their attention and self-esteem. They will figure out a healthy balance between online and real life.

Gen Z: Will prioritize self-actualization and spiritual health in their kids, who will grow up to over-correct toward fostering ambition and material success.

Gen Alpha: Will scoff at their Millennial parents’ and Boomer grandparents’ machinations toward concocting a “healthy” childhood. Without knowing it, they will adopt their great grandparents’ attitudes. They will tell their kids to get out of the house after breakfast and be home before dark. They will assume what doesn’t kill the kids makes them stronger, but won’t conspire to put that assumption to the test. They will let kids be kids.

… Except, of course, all this will be supervised, encouraged, and kept safe for the kids by their AI playmates and tutors!

Put your own predictions in the comments. To summarize:

Generation Name	Caricature of Parenting Style	Caricature of Resulting Kids
The Greatest Generation	Authoritative, emotionally distant	Baby Boomers: High achieving, competitive
The Silent Generation	Parenting for conformity and social norms	Generation X: Independent, skeptical, ‘slacker culture’
Baby Boomers	Nurturing self-esteem, ‘everyone is special’	Millennials: High expectations, entitlement
Generation X	Helicopter Parents	Gen Z: Authentic, but sometimes fragile
Millennials	Back to letting kids fail and learn, but maybe in weird ways?	Gen Alpha: Strange balance of optimism and cynicism.
Gen Z	Peak emotional actualization, minimal focus on ambition.	Gen Beta(?): “Cool, I feel good about myself, but now how do I make a bag?”
Gen Alpha	Let kids be kids, but with AI.	Who knows?

Lately I’ve been thinking about generational stereotypes, specifically the stereotypical parenting style of each generation. How do the circumstances, beliefs, and anxieties of one generation translate to quirks in its parenting style? And how do their kids react to and correct for those quirks when they become parents? That’s what this post is about.

Big Disclaimer: I’m interested in the perceived stereotypes, and how they’re understood in popular culture. Not whether they are true, or how true they are.

In other words, I think it’s interesting to look at how popular culture imagines the differentiating features of each generation, regardless of how much predictive power those tropes have at the individual level. And even more interesting than observing how past generations is trying to guess what the next generation’s stereotypes will be. In Part 1 I will focus on the former, and then in Part 2 I’ll put down my predictions on the latter.

Stereotypes on parental styles of the past 100+ years, with a little help from ChatGPT:

• The Greatest Generation (born approx. 1901-1927): Disciplined and distanced. Popular conception portrays a parental focus on authority and discipline, which builds resilience in kids, but possibly at the expense of parents’ emotional warmth and availability.
• The Silent Generation (~1928-1945): Stable but stifling. I didn’t know this was a generation, thanks ChatGPT. The typical 50s & 60s stereotype continued; a preference for stability and conformity. Moving to the burbs, climbing the corporate ladder, expecting their kids to want the same.
• Baby Boomers (~1946-1964): Trophies and Reality TV. The parents who told their kids, “You can be anything!” And both they and the kids believed it. I think this is largely a great thing. But the cost would be that some small number of kids really, really, believed it, and then found their grown up lives to be pretty normal, and therefore disappointing. Meanwhile, the previous generations are shaking their fists at Boomer parents and their Participation Trophy culture.
• Gen X (~1965-1980): Helicopters and harm-prevention. This generation of parents has conflicting stereotypes, with the Latchkey Kids on one hand and the Micromanaged Achievers on the other. Based on emerging popular beliefs about Gen Z, the Helicopter Parenting style seems to have had the bigger influence.
• Millennials (~1981-1994),Gen Z (~1995-2012), and Gen Alpha (~2013-2025): There are hypotheses, but we don’t really know yet!

In Part 2, I’ll try to predict how the next generations of parents will react, compensate, and over-correct when crafting their parenting styles. What will people say about Millennials and beyond, as parents?