Each generation likes to complain about the one that went before them and boomers often get a particularly bad rap. Especially when it comes to their parenting style. The accusations are that they used too much tough love (including the occasional smack), subjected children to long car journeys with no water or snacks, let older kids drink wine at the table… the list goes on.
Of course, we can’t say all boomers were the same, but when it comes to my own parents, I know they were way more hands off than I am with my own children. They certainly didn’t put parenting at the centre of their lives. It didn’t become the definition of who they were.
They often told me to go and “entertain myself”. There was no wriggle room, or conversation to be had around rules they set like bedtimes. If I came downstairs after this time, I wasn’t offered snacks or extra stories. The tone in their voice told me not to come down again.
Our parents grew up in different times. Post-World War 2, they grew up with scarce resources; their lives were harder and less comfortable; kids were “better seen, not heard” and there was more of a hierarchy in terms of adults versus kids (none of the gentle parenting that is fashionable).
