The Generation Narrow
There used to be a generation gap–the boomers and their parents were very different. Technically, I’m part of Generation X, and my kids (according to Wikipedia, THE SOURCE OF ALL KNOWLEDGE) are part of the second wave of Generation Y. Two events recently have helped me to see that I’ll probably be closer to my kids socially than I am to my parents, or they are to theirs.
- My kids were desperate, nay, absolutely desperate, to see the original Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are a number of reasons for the feverish pitch in recent weeks, but ultimately they couldn’t wait to beg us day in and day out to see the movie. This weekend we finally had a chance, and they loved it. That movie came out when I was my daughter’s age.
- Today as we were driving home from dinner, my daughter heard Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer to which she exclaimed “Turn it Up! I love this song.” Of course we obliged as I reminisced about cranking it while cruising Reynoldsburg (Oh, the happenin’ R’burg) as a teenager. I couldn’t have imagined then that my own daughter would love that song over 20 years later. She delivered the coup de grace to my teen angst memories when she said “When we get home, can we put this on my MP3 player?”
I thank the media. I blame the media. I thank the DVDs, CDs, and digital media for making my kids adore the same stuff I did when I grew up, and “came of age.” It tickles me to no end to see them devoting hours to reading the Complete Calvin and Hobbes on lazy Sunday mornings.