Millennials Move Back Home

College graduates born in the years preceding 1975 were expected to leave home and not return except for Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Day and the occasional semi-annual visit. This was true for me, an early baby boomer, my Sister and everyone else my family. This mandate was written in stone and placed above the front door by my parents. There were no exceptions to this rule and we knew it.

Then something strange happened in the late 1970's, a total and unexpected paradigm shift. Our collective children started to move back home or never left home to begin with when they were old enough to enter the work place. This was the start of the Millennial Generation. Millennials are roughly defined as children born between 1978 and 2000 who have been brought up to believe they are special and deserve a special existence.

Their parents planned their childhood activities so that virtually every minute of their time was accounted for and scheduled in advance. Dance classes, karate, soccer, baseball, music, singing, play dates and a matrix of other activities were scheduled for them. Their parents made up their social calendar and played chauffer to get them through their tightly packed day on time.

Parents of the Millennials praised their children and provided unconditional love and support. Parents would go as far as to tromp down to school if their child received a mark from a teacher they considered as too low. Understand I am not saying that the child did not deserve the low mark, but both the child and their parents believe their golden progeny could not possibly get anything that was as mediocre as a C (i.e. not special). Parents would even move their child to expensive private schools if they did not think they were being treated as the special little individuals they believed them to be.