Interesting how this turned once again to millennial bashing.
I work with quite a few Millennials. I find them to be very polite. As in, over the top mannerly. I actually love working with them.
Many of them can't afford to have children, but the ones that do have little ones are very open about how they are stressed to the MAX with these kids. They definitely have a "My kids can do whatever they want as long as they aren't hurting themselves and giving me time to scroll" kind of attitude. This includes blasting ipads in restaurants, letting kids run all over microbrews, endless screen time (which creates more issues), giving them "Mommy's Bliss" type of products (melatonin for kids) at night, etc.
Most Millennials have parents that still work full time, so they don't get a lot of help from after work and on weekends.
I have posted many times about my hatred of ipads and phones blasting in public places, esp. restaurants. My younger co-workers have a "Shrug. That's a YOU problem" kind of attitude. They don't see it as being rude. They see it as "Would you rather see my kids up and running around" type of situation. Um, it's not an either or. Teach your children both are rude scenarios. We go back and forth about this. In the end, I feel they are not prepared for the difficult parts of parenting and working full time.
And I do think housing prices have a part in this. Many young parents today have an added stress of either high rent and never owning their own home, or else owning a home and having a huge mortgage. Add in the exorbitant costs of mediocre daycare, and never having even the smallest glimpse of the option of one parent staying home (since everything is so expensive). One of my young so-workers just bought a house for a little over $750k. I make a lot more in salary, and I could never imagine the pressure owning a home of that price, let alone in your 30's. So, making their child wear headphones is the least of their worries, much to my chagrin.
I find it fascinating and refreshing that Millennials I work with are also very open to talk about all of this. I feel Gen X and Boomers never were this open about their personal lives and struggles.
For as mannerly as Millennials are, I do think they (not all) are raising kids in a way that is not conducive to manners as we know them. Ask a one of your teacher friends if they agree
