Millennials as Parents

"Help! My Parents are Millennials" proclaims a Time article speculating on how millennials will do as parents:

"Millennial parents number more than 22 million in the U.S., with about 9,000 babies born to them each day. This growing cohort of parents is digitally native, ethnically diverse, late-marrying and less bound by traditional gender roles than any generation before it. Millennials, many of whom entered the job market during one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history, have helped shape a culture where everyone is expected to be on all the time—for their bosses, co-workers, family and friends. With a smartphone and a social network always at hand, they’re charting a course through parenthood that opens moms and dads to more public criticism—as well as affirmation—than anything previous generations have ever experienced.

"At the same time, these young adults, having been raised to count individuality and self-expression as the highest values, are attempting to run their families as mini-democracies, seeking consensus from spouses, kids and extended friend circles on even the smallest decisions. They're backing away from the overscheduled days of their youth, preferring a more responsive, less directorial approach to activities. And they're teaching their kids to be themselves and try new things—often unwittingly conditioning their tiny progeny to see experiences as things to be documented and shared with the world.

"As parents, millennials are still marked by their optimism. They still have faith in progress, equality and Google. And they continue to build vast archives of selfies. Now the rising question for this generation is, How will their beliefs, habits and preoccupations shape the lives of their children?"

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