My Truth About Millennials

It seems to me that I am hearing a great deal of complaining lately – an inordinate amount by parents registering dissatisfaction with their offspring. They report that their children are impolite, irresponsible, narcissistic or entitled. There are times I feel as if I am unwillingly being transported to the classic scene from Bye Bye Birdie, in which Paul Lynde poses the age-old question, “What’s the matter with kids today?”

From my vantage point, the Millennials (born between 1980 and the mid 2000’s), and more specifically, my children, are generally civic-minded (certainly more than I ever was), hard working and thoughtful. They have a strong sense of being members of a global world, and put great value on community and on family. When we Baby Boomers were young, terrorism on our home soil was not, as my children say, “a thing,” and global climate change was not even an imagined phrase. Our children, in contrast, are facing a frightening world that includes a greater awareness of terrorism, global warming, repeated school shootings, the after-effects of a severe recession, and full-time digital exposure, among other stressors.

In spite of, or perhaps in part as a result of the current world challenges, my three Millennials strive diligently at school/work, are involved in a wide array of extracurricular (including civic) activities, relish time with their parents and with each other, and still find time to call their grandparents. Honestly, how much more could a mother want? If I ever doubt my parenting skills, as most of us on occasion do, I have only to look as far as my progeny to know that I have been successful.

My children, I am confident, are not alone in their actions; I see their involvement mirrored in the actions of their friends and peers. According to the 2013 Millennial Impact Report, 73% of Millennials volunteered for a nonprofit organization, motivated largely by passion for a cause. Undoubtedly, availability of new technologies/social media make such involvement more accessible and awareness of issues more prevalent. To their credit, the current tech savvy generation has chosen to successfully employ the available information to become involved in searching for solutions to the myriad world problems. The government has reported that current high school seniors are more likely than prior generations to indicate that making a contribution to society is very important to them (whitehouse.gov).

Millennials, the largest generation in the United States, are, thankfully, politically interested and aware. Members of this cohort vote at higher rates than other generations at their age, and are voting in increasing numbers over time (National Conference on Citizenship).  A 2014 Pew Research Center Survey found that Millennials are the age group most likely to say that politicians need to make compromises with those with whom they disagree, and they are the age group least likely to have an unfavorable opinion of either political party (although given such political superstars as Donald Trump, Anthony Weiner, and Eliot Spitzer, perhaps unfavorable opinions are in order); it seems, therefore, that Millennials are poised to break the unproductive trend of partisanship. The Pew Research Center also found that nearly half of Millennials think the country’s best days are ahead of it, more optimistic than the preceding generations. Milliennials are socially tolerant, not surprising since they are statistically the most diverse generation in our history. As a corollary, two thirds support the rights of gays to marry.  They are the most highly educated cohort, and possibly as a result, are less likely to smoke, and have lower rates of unwanted pregnancy and abortions than previous generations (LA Times, Science Now, 5/5/14).

It is true that Millennials on the whole are far from perfect. They more often binge drink than did we – but consider who raised the drinking age to incite this behavior. They also generally remain more financially dependent on their parents well into adulthood, resulting in some calling them immature or lazy – but who destroyed the economy and plunged our children into an environment where jobs are scarce and beginning salaries meager? To those who cite poor dietary habits and increasing obesity in the generations to follow ours, contemplate who force fed them McDonalds and KFC during their formative years. It is our generation – we who threw our trash out of the car window, we who are responsible for large-scale deforestation and widespread combustion of fossil fuels, we who largely used our disposable income not for social responsibility, but for self-fulfillment. While each generation has characteristic vices, ours have laid the groundwork for the vices of the Millennials, who have fared remarkably well given the potential catastrophes they have been, by no choice of their own, enlisted to address.

When I consider the endless ways in which the “Me Generation” has damaged our planet, I am grateful for the interested, optimistic and motivated “clean up crew” we have in our Millennials.  I am inspired by the enthusiasm and altruism of my children and their cohort. If one wants to talk about how awesome her/his children are, I am an eager audience.  Even if s/he borders on bragging, I am completely on board.  But please, please do not cast aspersions on our blossoming generation of forward-thinking doers; I am simply not convinced.

About the author: Marjorie Rosenblatt is a physician, wife and mother of three. When not saving lives or resolving an endless stream of family crises, she enjoys writing about her experiences and passions, including (but not limited to) her family, medicine and karate.