From Millennials to Boomers: Generation Gap
Leo Tolstoy said: “All families are happy in the similar way and unhappy in its own way”. And happiness or unhappiness of any family mostly depends on relations in it. So many families so many family relations. Each family establishes its own relations in its own way. It has its own traditions and customs and its own unwritten constitution including rights and duties of every member of the family. They are also different in different families. So the problem of misunderstanding becomes urgent. Some people can it generation gap.
And both sides (parents and children) should be patient and tactful and it’s the only way to settle down all the problems and stay friends. Youth is a very important period in the life of man. This is the time when a person discovers the world and tries to determine the place in the universe. Young people face lots of problems which are very important for them and do not differ much from those that once their parents had to deal with. At the same time every generation is unique. It differs from the one that preceded it in its experience, ideals and a system of values.
The adults always say that the young are not what they were. These words are repeated from generation to generation. To some extent they are true, because every new generation grows up quicker, enjoys more freedom. It is better educated and benefits from the results of the technological progress of the time. Young people of today do not directly accept the standards of their parents who believe that they are right because they are older. The adults don’t want their values to be questioned. The young on the other hand can not accept the values of their “fathers”.
All these differences generate a generation gap when the young and adult do not understand one another. As a rule the adults, dissatisfied with their own lives, teach the young how to live. Unfortunately, the adults apply old standards to the new way of life. They can not leave behind their “good old days”. This burden is very heavy. They think that the world is going down hill. They gloomily look ahead unable to understand the optimism of their children who want to pave their own way in life. The majority of the young people do not want to live in the past.
They have their own ideals. They want to make their own mistakes rather than to listen to the warnings of the adults and repeat the mistakes of the older generation. They want to overcome their own difficulties without looking back. However, the life of the young is frequently determined by the adults. I think that parents will never understand their children. And children, in their turn, shock their parents with their dress, language, behaviour. Traditionally, young people were looking at their elders for guidance. Today the situation is different.
Sometimes the young people share information and experience with their parents. I think that it is not bad, especially when the adults really try to understand what is going on in the lives of their children. Moreover, young people grow up so quickly that they almost do not have time to enjoy their childhood. So, as you see, it is very difficult to be young nowadays, as it always was. But you only can be young once, and some wonderful things can happen only when you’re young. So, it is be to enjoy youth while it lasts.
