During a “generation gap” fight with his parents, young Michael cried, “I want excitement, adventure, money, and beautiful women. I’ll never find it here at home, so I’m leaving. Don’t try to stop me.” !”
With that he headed for the door. His father got up and followed close behind. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I don’t want you trying to stop me.”
“Who is trying to stop you?” replied his father. “If you wait a minute, I’ll come with you.”
This is a joke going around about how the new generation gap has formed!
The friction between the young and the old has been around for a long time. The joint family concept made the elders put out the flame from time to time. The younger generation of those days had to meekly submit to the advice of the elders and worked their way up to success. But lately, the nuclear family consists of the parents and a maximum of two children these days: office goers, career-oriented fathers, and mothers rarely have little time to spend with their children. Children are forced to make independent right or wrong decisions.
This type of generation gap occurs more when the children grow up and the son marries. Nowadays the concept of upbringing accepts only the parents and not the grandparents. The competitive world makes parents focus more on their children, who have to shape their career and settle in life, instead of spending time with their elderly parents, who become more and more dependent on their children as they grow up .
Older parents who are alive are considered a burden. The son is more enthusiastic about giving his children the best and wants them to compete with his peers. He doesn’t want to lose control over them and he certainly feels that there should be a set pattern in raising his children.
The grandparents now feel that their son who had been so obedient and submissive now ignores him and does not allow the grandchildren to play with them. The son, in turn, feels that his parents do not know anything about technological advances and his son, in turn, must adapt to the latest technologies and not waste time playing with the grandparents. They prefer that their children play on computers instead of grandparents.
Has the new generation gap, which is emerging now, taken a turn to ignore the older ones? Or should older people give up and adapt to new developments?