The Up-and-Coming Generation: The Millennials

I've been reading a lot about the “Millennials” lately, the new generation estimated at 75 million that primarily connects and communicates through cell phones, BlackBerrys, and the Internet — and has never experienced life without a computer.

In the unlikely case you haven’t heard, Millennials are those kids born somewhere between 1980 and 1995. They’ve been “on camera” since they popped out of the womb, video-taped every Christmas (“Tell us what you’re opening, Meredith.”), and raised to critique their own looks on digital cameras. This “watch me” generation now has morphed into mini-celebrity status with the emergence of social-networking websites like Facebook and MySpace.

The Millennials were raised to believe they were exceptional and singular, praised for simply getting up in the morning (“Good job!”), and handed trophies just for showing up. They are now invading the workplace, expecting the adulation of their parents to be continued by their bosses. It is not surprising, then, that according to a 2006 Pew Research Center poll, 80 percent believe that getting rich is the most important goal in life while 50 percent think that becoming famous is an equally important life goal.

While I think it's true that we've always been overly concerned about each new emerging generation (remember the angst over Generation X being latchkey kids), the Millennials supreme self-regard disturbs me. My grandchildren will follow closely on their heels and, as they move into adolescence, perhaps take clues from this older generation.

So I worry. I see my kids and their spouses doing their utmost to raise my grandchildren right. And, from all indications, it’s paying off. But I know from experience that the time is fast approaching when others will intrude upon their tight family circle and wield a massive amount of influence on my grandchildren. Therefore, this is the time for my husband and me to kick into gear while they still are young and impressionable enough to consider us virtually infallible.

While my husband, a writer, takes great delight in stirring up their imaginations, his more important role is that of counselor and guide. He can help them — especially the grandsons — negotiate the world outside the home, prepare them for the bumps in the road that he knows will occur, and help provide them the moral strength to be their own person. To my granddaughters, I am, for this brief moment in time, somewhat of a role model. I need to use that power to pass on to them my belief that, contrary to the Millennials, their success in life should not be measured by their paycheck or their popularity, but by the difference they can make in the world.

I don’t envy my kids. The challenges of balancing work and family life are incredibly difficult for today’s parents. Kids seem to have schedules — school/play dates/lessons/sports — that are as complicated as an adult's to-do list. On top of that, many are facing the problems that accompany divorce and the challenges in adjusting to a blended family upon remarriage. There are so many complications today and, it seems to me, so little support from society.

This is where we grandparents come in. Luckily, most of us are young enough, healthy enough, and, I hope, caring enough to help lighten the load for our children. We are, after all, still parents, as well as grandparents.