Gen X Parents

A recent story on msnbc.com asserts that the children of my generation – those born between 1965 and 1977 – are among the rudest in history.

“ Today’s tykes: Secure kids or rudest in history? ” claims that Gen X moms and dads have forsaken compassion and empathy in order to ensure that our children have healthy self-esteem.

… By many accounts Generation X may be the most devoted parents in American history. They are champions of “attachment parenting,” the school of child-rearing that calls for a high level of closeness between parents and children, Many Gen-X parents co-sleep with their children, hold them back from entering kindergarten if they feel their children’s emotional maturity is at stake and volunteer at their kids’ schools at record rates. Gen-X moms have been famously criticized by early feminists for dropping out of the workforce to care for their young children.

Yet, their kids are, well, rude. It may be that today’s parents are so fixated on their children’s emotional well-being that they’re teaching them that the well-being of others is comparatively unimportant, says Dr. Philippa Gordon, a long-time pediatrician in Park Slope, Brooklyn, an urban New York neighborhood famous for its dense Gen-X parent population.

I vehemently disagree. Earlier this week, I was at neighborhood park, where my kids played alongside the children of other Gen-Xers. Unlike the example in the story – in which a mom wouldn’t share her son’s toys with another kid because her son started crying – we met parents who encouraged their toddlers and preschoolers to share their trucks, shovels and other playthings. In fact, they went out of their way to make sure my kids were included even though we didn’t know each other.

Many families we know – and yes, they are Gen X parents – emphasize the need for empathy and compassion for others. At our preschool, teachers work hard to build community among the children so that they know how to work together, solve problems together, help each other and show care and kindness – not just to for people but also for materials and livings things in our environment.

What do you think? Do you think today’s kids are really among the rudest in history?