Gen Z Calls Out Millennial Soft Parenting!

This Gen Z girl on TikTok is going viral for criticizing millennial parents for being too soft on their kids. What is going on? Yeah, the article reads, TikToker slams millennial parents with unruly kids in viral video. Let's run the clip. I need to ask millennials, why are your kids so awful? And more importantly, why do you think it's so funny? Your kids cannot read, they cannot write, they're ill mannered, and they're monsters. I was working my medical receptionist job the and this woman walks in. You can tell she's a millennial. She's like 34. She has a yoga mat in one hand and her four-year-old in the other. Her Satan spawn walked up to the counter and I was like, hi. And there's a bunch of business cards just stacked up on the counter. You know, it's a medical office. And the kid knocks them all over and starts mixing up all the different business cards on the floor of the office. I look over at her mother thinking she's gonna see this and be like, oh no, you can't do that. No, she looks up from her phone, looks at her daughter and starts hysterically laughing and says, isn't she so cute? Ma'am, I have to clean this later. If I were my kid, I would have yelled at it and then cleaned up the mess it made and then made it apologize to the receptionist. I know millennials with children are gonna hate this because they're the most self-righteous people on the planet. But maybe you should be less concerned about me and more concerned about the fact that your kid cannot read. When I was in second grade, I was getting assigned by my teachers at least 100 to 150 page books, me and my classmates. Your kid cannot read basic words or spell basic words. And you're cool with that. That is crazy to me. If you're not gonna teach them how to read, that's fine. You know what? Not my circus, not my monkeys. But at least please teach them some manners. And honestly, millennials, please gain some yourselves because as someone who has had a lot of jobs in her day, serving you people is genuinely one of the most insufferable things I've ever had to do. Thank you. Andrew, what just seemed like an innocuous video from Alana Dinh. Basically, she's a Gen Zer, right? She's under 25. She's criticizing millennial parents. I wanna say anywhere from like 30 to 35 year old for basically being bad parents in raising unruly devil children. But this went viral. Yeah, I mean, initially a lot of the comments are, ooh, I love the millennial slander. And be like, it's not even slander because it's true. Or be like, yeah, it is mainly they're weird. They have this weird boomer mentality mixed with trying to end generational trauma. So they let their kids do whatever they want. But David, my overall take is like, I'm not surprised that this Gen Z girl is criticizing millennial parents because I think this Gen Z girl is raised by Asian immigrant parents who are probably Gen X, possibly boomers. Now, maybe not boomers, but if not boomers, she was probably raised around a lot older cousins, maybe her grandparents. But it is possible that they're boomers because if the parents had her when they were 40, which is more possible nowadays due to the advents in modern science, she's 20, she's being raised by old school people. Maybe the grandparents are in the house, super disciplinarian, especially from Asia. You know how it is. And she's probably just looking at these American kids like, what the hell is going on? But I think it's more of an Asian immigrant thing, possibly just an overall traditional immigrant thing. So you're saying that's I think it's more of an immigrant kid mindset than it is a Gen Z versus millennial thing. That's my take. Right. So you would like to redirect or you're just providing more context for why this 20 year old would judge the 30 year old's parenting skills. Whether they're Gen Z or Gen Alpha or whatever comes after Gen Z, whoever's 16 years old, whoever's 12 year olds, if they are raised by Asian immigrant parents, they're probably going to think a little bit the same, even as the way we were raised. Yeah. Guys, anyway, guys, make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications because we are going to get into it. But you know what you can enjoy, Andrew, whether you are a Lucy Goose parent who lets your kid do whatever you want, or you're an ultra strict tiger of the all tiger parents. Check out small sauce. If you had a strict parent growing up, this is definitely the chili oil for you because look how fun and loose it is. You can squeeze it on things, but don't give it to your crazy little devil kid. We're going to make a mess. Anyway, smaller sauce.com. I witnessed this to be honest. I definitely have witnessed this. I don't work in a field where I interface a lot with like crazy wild kids who's like have bad parents, but I would assume anecdotally, Andrew, from people who work in retail, childcare, substitute teachers, youth teachers, depending on what zone they're in, it's probably true. Yeah. Yeah. I would say so. I mean, I think that you got to look at the millennial parents that, you know, and see how they're raising kids. And I think because of my friend, like I know some good parents, but I can see how it's true. Maybe not for my immediate friend group. You know what I mean? Like, but it's not that bad, but I can see how it can be true. Well, I mean, let's be honest, right? They want to, to the comment section, Andrew and generational trauma. They might be swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction, not yelling at the kid, not being negative, not being dominating when the reality is you have to be at some points more or less. You have to be like that to your kids to raise good kids. No, you have to be authoritative. I think that, and we're going to get into the comment section, but you know what it is like, obviously mental health, generational trauma, these are like real things, but they're also not like things that you need to solve with your child. Like it's almost like you're treating your child too much, giving them too much freedom. It's like he killed kids until a certain age. They don't even know what they're doing. Would it be the equivalent of somebody who had kids very young, 18, 19 years old, they weren't able to experience that young, wild and free party life. So they let their kid lean into that world at a 10 out of 10 level. And that can have downside consequences, but they're trying to compensate for the lack of their youth. I mean, a lot of millennial parents did not have great upbringings because they had very strict, super strict, a boomer parents that came over in the 1960s and seventies. And so they just want their kid to have the best life possible, but there has to be some discipline. And of course the kids are growing up with different technology in some ways, a lot of good ways, a lot of bad ways too. Andrew, have you seen these balance bikes? Kids don't learn on regular bikes anymore. They got balance bikes without pedals to teach you kids how to balance. Let me look the balance bikes. Also this led to a ton of discussions about is America slowly falling apart? Is it unraveling? Anyway, guys, let's get into the comments section. Somebody said, you know, nowadays it's just kids having kids, you know, whether they're of actual kid age themselves, or they just got the mindset of a kid. It's babies having babies, Andrew. Bone Thugs in Harmony first said it. Somebody said it's crazy how a whole generation is neglecting their kids. Somebody said, does it really come as a surprise though? And somebody said as a millennial mom, I agree. Most kids cannot read good. My kids can, but I've seen their classmates, their kids are really far behind. Well, is it because they're what consuming too much like iPad content? They're not actually in the books. Like at some point you have to set the foundation. I know that their future is going to look different than our future. There's going to be less books in their future, period. But you still have to know how to read and comprehend things. Right. They have a lot more infographics and things like that. Yeah. There's more videos, more sound and visuals, right? Um, somebody said that, uh, I am appalled at how many eight or nine years old struggle to write their name or read anything. Somebody said idiocracy or Pixar's Wally is coming to true. Somebody said it's because all the same millennials analyze the environment around us and all the different factors and decided to not have kids. Yo, is it crazy that some of the most woke or smart, uh, millennials are actually choosing not to have kids because they're too worried about the world that they're bringing their kids into. So what's happening is that smart parents, technically educated people are not having kids. And then the only people, well, not the only people having kids, but a lot more of the less educated people are having kids. No, I mean, that was the whole, uh, front loaded part of idiocracy that was hyper viral. I don't literally just watch the intro to that movie. One thing that I've been noticing, and this is a little bit of an aside, Andrew, is a lot of Asians. I know that we're born overseas, but have a secured American citizenship. They're having their kids here, but then raising their kids for the first 10 years of their life in Asia, where basically it is hyper disciplined still to this day in 2023. Yeah. And what I like about that, obviously not every fun family has the means to do that, but that kid is going to grow up in Asia, right. With under the strict discipline. And then they're going to move back to America and then they're going to feel a little bit of an out, like an outsider culturally. They may not get some of the memes, but, but that's not a bad thing because as long as their parents know how to raise them, feeling like an outsider is actually not a bad thing. When you're a kid, you need to feel like, like it can actually push you very far. Right. Right. Right. It gives you perspective too. Let's be honest. Um, sometimes it's better to shelter. I mean, yeah, like you said, they're going to be entering environment where a lot of kids, uh, may have more life experiences, but are not as good as studying. So then that's, those kids are going to go to really good colleges just based off the curve. Somebody said free range parenting with no boundaries or expectations for behavior is leading to dysfunctional children that cannot assimilate into routine experiences, school, church, sports activities. This bodes poorly for the future generation. Somebody said this is the result of gentle parenting. I hate that. And someone said, no guys, let's be honest. Gentle parenting can work, but it's really how you execute it. But a lot of people are saying Well, you know, I read four books and a lot of articles on how to be a gentle parent. And I just figured that I'm going to let Bobby do whatever he wants. Yeah. I mean, for me, at least a lot of people like us who grew up with strict immigrant parents, how many do you see adopt this? Like, okay, I'm going to be like a new age, like flower mom or dad, you know, opposed to, I guess I would say it's much more common amongst non-immigrant Americans, because I feel like immigrant kids were like, no, no, no, I needed to get whatever happened to me, whether it was like harsh timeouts or even get hit. I'm not endorsing hitting your kids. I'm just saying it ain't the craziest bad thing either. Somebody said that it's actually because the parents are just so focused on their own lives and having fun. That's why they're neglecting their kids. So their kids have to do crazier things to get attention from their parents because the parents are distracted. Oh, that was really interesting. That's crazy that the kids got to pry their parents off of their screens. But other people are saying it's actually because the parents always defend the kids when the kids are acting up against the teacher. Whereas back in the old days, the parents used to side with the teacher. Now they're coming in looking to be adversaries with the teacher whose job it is to actually discipline your kid. Yeah. I mean, there's just got to be a balance. I believe in a balance. Somebody said, does it seem like every generation in America is becoming more and more unraveled? I mean, this is a common narrative, right? Unraveled, that's a really good word. Unraveled, David, what do you think about that term? I think that... Because unraveled, it doesn't mean like breaking down, but it's loosening up. And when things get loose, unraveling something usually is not a good thing. Because unless you're like, unless it's a bow on a gift bag. I mean, for sure you see it. Obviously, all the memes about Gen Z and who knows how Gen Alpha is going to turn out, but how everybody's just got the broccoli cut with the AirPods and vaping and there's no cap, you know, Riz and all this goofy stuff. I mean, it's tough to say. I would say every generation says it about the previous generation. But yeah, overall, I agree with it. I don't know. It feels like the little yarn balls getting some little unraveling at the seams here or there. Obviously, it's not falling apart yet. How much do you think it is that parents aren't even together anymore in a nuclear household? Because somebody was saying that the kids are getting passed around from the grand auntie, to the auntie, to the grandparent, to the aunt, to the mom's close friend, to the dad, because the mom and dad are separated. Because obviously due to divorce and family separation statistics. How much is that having impact on kids' behavior? I don't know, but it sounds like an unideal situation. I'm not a child development psychologist. I didn't study that for even 10 seconds in college. I could make a guess. Logically. I mean, dang, man. There's so many ways to raise a kid because I know like parents who have like two pairs of grandparents that live with them. So it's almost like there's like anywhere from four to six adults raising one kid, like giving them attention. So then sometimes that kid on the other, on a slightly negative side could be spoiled, right, by the attention. But in a way, they get all the good attention that they need. So there's just a balance, right? Right. Somebody was saying, man, it's just the situation of the teachers now, because nobody wants to do anything at home. They ask the teacher to do it, but the teachers are not any high quality, more high quality than they used to be, because the pay is relatively lower than it used to be. Nobody respects the teachers anymore because the kids are talking back and the parents are even talking back at the parent-teacher conferences. So now you're expecting the teacher to teach all your kids the morals and the disciplines and the self-respect and the respect for society. But then you go against the teacher and the teaching profession has been so downgraded to begin with in society that you're not even getting the quality people in those positions. So basically, somebody was pointing out that it's a whole systemic breakdown, right? Yeah. I mean, honestly, guys, anyway, there's a lot of interesting thoughts here. Andrew, what do you think? Clearly, Alana didn't, did not set out to have this crazy political social commentary. I don't think that's what she does on her channel, but her just very lucidly voicing a real opinion that she has, funny enough, as a 20-year-old, about a 30-year-old raising 10-year-olds went viral. It echoed. It echoed. And I do think that a lot of people forget that, yeah, raising a good kid, I mean, that's not to say this little kid who took down the little business cards is going to be a trash kid forever. It doesn't mean that. Let's be serious just because this one instance, but- You're saying because there's more opportunities to fix it, right? But you would say a strong parent would not just do what that parent did. For sure. But who knows? Maybe that kid's going to get yelled at by his dad when he gets home. You know what the interesting thing is? I was thinking about a lot of people that I went to high school with, and me and you, we went to, I would say, more of a blue-collar sports school. Definitely, people were not, like, we ended up going to just the best state school, which was literally the best college that pretty much anybody really got into from out of a graduating class of like 500 people. I would say this, man. A lot of people I went to high school with, I'm not saying they stayed idiots forever. They weren't that smart. So, I would imagine if they have kids in an even increasingly globalized, competitive environment, I mean, I could just make a prediction based on outcome. You know what I mean? Based on the people that I went to school with. You know what I mean? Because I'm like, yeah, if they're having kids, what are the odds that their kids became really geniuses and did the right things, you know? They don't have to be geniuses as long as the parent is a good parent. I mean, I feel like a good parent doesn't mean that that parent has to be educated. No, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't mean. But they have to be present. You just have to have good character. You have to essentially make just the right macro choices. Don't be addicted to substances. Basically, the parents have to serve as teachers as well. It's not like the only teacher in their life is the teacher at school. That's like, that's a terrible situation. Do you think this is reflective of society, though? That everybody's, like, just throwing trash on the street? Like, oh, somebody's getting paid to pick that up. Somebody got it. Yeah. People don't want to get their hands dirty. They don't want to get in there, get gritty with their kids. They don't want to just grab their kid and look at him and be like, you can't do that. You can't do that. Don't do that. Is it fair for immigrant kids to judge the non-immigrants? Because, you know what I mean? Like, I guess the non-immigrant people who have been in America for a lot longer, they might have a debt, like, they're not going to have the old world values because literally, we still got family members that live in the old world. Or, quote unquote, you know, the non-hyper, you know, whatever, new school world. Hey, ladies, marry an immigrant guy. Guys, marry an immigrant woman if you want some more traditional values, I guess. I mean, for sure. You would say, hey, listen, guys, I'm not saying there's not pros and cons of everything. You know, kids who are allowed to roam more and have more leeway, a longer leash when they're younger, they may be more creative. They may see more things young, too. I'm not saying that there's not upside and downside to every pattern and every methodology. Anyway, guys, let us know what you think of Alana Dinn's video in the comment section below. Why did it go so viral? Is it true? Is it false? Is it just every generation has biases against the previous generation? Very interesting. Keep it, you know, clean in the discussion. Until next time, we're the Hot Paw Boys. We out. Peace.