Mom’s Viral Video About Millennial vs. Boomer Parenting Is Hilarious — And Offers An Important Truth

In it, Wolfe corrects her mom again and again for saying seemingly innocuous phrases to her granddaughter — things like “Be careful,” “Stop hitting,” “I’m so proud of you,” “Hurry up” and “Watch out.” Advertisement But if you’re a millennial parent who spends time on social media, you’ve no doubt been inundated with Instagram posts and TikToks imploring you to avoid this language in favor of “gentler” alternatives, lest you damage your child. Advertisement In one scene, grandma tells the child to “be careful” while they’re playing outside. Wolfe butts in to say, “We don’t say ‘Be careful’ anymore. Instead say, ‘Whats your plan here?’” To which grandma shoots back an exasperated: “I don’t even know my plan. Do you know your plan?” The idea for the video came about when grandma was visiting for a week to help with the kids, ages 1 and 3½, Wolfe said. Parenting has changed a bit,” Wolfe, author of the book “Birdie & Harlow,” told HuffPost. “But I don’t really say those things to my mom, obviously. Sometimes, internally, I think them because I’ve watched too many of those [social media] videos.” Parents today have access to so much more information about how to raise kids than previous generations ever did. And while much of the parenting advice floating around the internet is “well-intentioned,” Wolfe said, it ends up making us fearful of saying the wrong thing or feeling guilty if we don’t stick to the script. “Now we have too much information and we know way too many different ways we can screw them up,” Wolfe said. “The millennials I’m seeing, they’re laughing at themselves. They’re like, ‘Yeah, I do this, but I know it’s ridiculous.’ Or ‘I know it does get to be too much,’” Wolfe said of the reception to her video. “And then I think the boomers are probably feeling a bit validated by it, or they’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s too much.’” Advertisement Clinical psychologist Ashurina Ream reposted Wolfe’s video on her @psychedmommy Instagram account, telling HuffPost, “It’s funny because it’s true.” “It just highlights the impossibility of parenthood these days with the unrealistic expectations and how we have access to so much information,” Ream said. And it’s silly when you see it as a satire clip — but it’s truthful.” “It just highlights the impossibility of parenthood these days with the unrealistic expectations and how we have access to so much information.” – Ashurina Ream, clinical psychologist The parenting scripts you see all over social media should be taken with a grain of salt — not as gospel. “Gamifying everything is just not a possibility when we are under-resourced and undervalued and struggling.” Advertisement Based on her years as a psychologist, Ream stressed that telling your child to be careful or that they did a good job or that you’re proud of them is not going to damage your child. Nor has she come across any “meaningful research” that suggests that that would be the case, she said. “We can all say different things and raise well-adjusted, healthy children.” – Ashurina Ream “I have never once heard an adult come to me and say, ‘You know what, I am not intrinsically motivated to do things because my parents were always telling me they were proud of me or that I did a good job, and now I’m always looking for outside validation.’ I usually hear the opposite,” she said. The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. “I hear people talking about how they didn’t hear it enough — that they didn’t know how their parents felt because they actually didn’t verbalize it, and they weren’t sharing their feelings and they weren’t explaining things to them.” Maybe this video is a reminder of something we all need to hear: It’s OK to parent in a way that feels right for you and your kids — even if it’s not always perfectly in line with whatever the parenting gurus are recommending. Advertisement “We can all say different things and raise well-adjusted, healthy children,” Ream said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/millennial-vs-boomer-parenting-humor_l_66f6de3be4b0c196da9ac242