A Generation of “Trophy Children”

(Warning: Generation Y, don’t get too offended by this article. I understand that it doesn’t apply to all of us. Just a vast majority ...)

With college graduation nearing for us all, the “next step” is something we all have to think about sooner or later.

When we enter the job market, we will be the new blood in many of today’s industries from which our parents are retiring. The bad news is we won’t live up to them. And perhaps this is their fault as much as it ours.

Now, I’m not trying to put the blame on Mom and Dad, but it is hard to argue against the fact that our generation has been handed more, on average, than any other generation in recent history.

Perhaps we’ve been given so much because our parents’ generation has been more successful. According to the Washington Post, “Baby boomers ... earn more than other Americans, with a median household income of $60,000, compared with $44,000 for other adults.”

The reason for this unprecedented success is simple: hard work.

Well described by an article title from the Pew Research Center, our parents went “From the Age of Aquarius to the Age of Responsibility.” Paper routes and after school and weekend jobs were the norm for our parents, many of whom saved up themselves for their own cars and – gasp – even paid for their own auto insurance.

This work ethic, personified by my own dad who, I swear, hasn’t taken a personal day during the 30-plus years of his career, has continued as a result of increased responsibilities on their behalf.

Interestingly, “66 percent of boomers describe paying for a child’s college as a parental responsibility,” according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
Additionally, “In the past year, 50 percent of all boomers were raising one or more young children and/or providing primary financial support to one or more adult children.”

As Generation Y continues to be fiscally supported by our parents, the values that have been instilled in us over time regarding financial responsibility and work ethic don’t quite measure up to that of our parents.

Our parents have, quite literally, bent over backwards in order to give us everything many of us have grown to expect.

Our parents want us to be able to provide our families everything and more that they have provided for us, and as a result, we have become “trophy children in every sense of the word,” according to CBS.

A CBS news story discusses the plight of Generation Y: “They expect to be immediate heroes and heroines.

They expect a lot of feedback on a daily basis. They expect grade inflation, they expect to be told what a wonderful job they’re doing,” and additionally they expect that “they’re gonna be allowed to rise to the top quickly. That they’re gonna get all the credit they need for everything they do. And boy, are they naive. Totally naive, in terms of what’s really gonna happen.”

While we can’t thank our parents enough for what they have given us, it’s time to loosen the rope and allow us to figure out what true work ethic is the hard way – just like they have been doing throughout the decades.

After all, some of us are going to have to figure out how to solve the mistakes that the Baby Boomers in government have made. Starting, of course, with protecting the generation of unparalleled work ethic into their “Golden Years” by fixing a dwindling Social Security system they have paid into their entire lives.