raising gen “beta”

pgrocal

New member
just wondering if any new parents are having thoughts about raising the next generation!

we’ve seen gen z grow up with varying levels of internet access - from use of the home desktop to having personal phones and tablets in later childhood and teen years (i am older gen z - 99 - and expecting my first child in the next 6 weeks! i had quite unrestricted internet access from maybe 10/11 years old and it has certainly shaped who i am. but as a toddler and young child i mostly just had TV, books and offline PS2 games) my sister is younger gen z - she had a personal tablet, albeit a cheap one, by the time she was about 8 y/o. she had minecraft teddies and watched five nights at freddy’s videos on youtube)

then of course we have had gen alpha - the tiktok, ipad baby, fortnite generation. these kids are supposedly a nightmare to teach in school, and struggle with attention span. but can you blame the parents, really? we weren’t to know the impact of unlimited screen time until it started to make itself known. i’m sure if we’d given any of our parents in the 90s a magic wireless pocket computer, the first thing they’d use it for is entertaining their screaming toddlers

i see loads of stuff online these days about limiting or removing screentime, and people are so impressed when they do because its like they’ve got a whole new kid (or got their kid back)

in my experience, there is a much bigger focus on the internet mumsphere now, to be at least a little bit crunchy. we all want to use less screens, cook better food, get more exercise, breathe more fresh air, spend more quality time with the ones we love and its only natural that this is going to be part of how we’re raising our kids. my baby isn’t here yet and i spend lots of time researching stuff about brain development & montessori parenting. in comparison to early millenials raising ‘gen alpha’ - this was the start of influencerism. most internet mum content wasn’t about being a good parent, it was about making sure they were only seen in a gorgeously instagrammable home, in the right matching outfits. this still prevails a bit in FB mum groups - i feel the aesthetic just went from grey to beige - but i still feel like people embrace real life (and mess in motherhood) a lot more on social media in recent years.

i also feel way more parents are actively refusing to post their kids online these days - i’ll be one of them. i’ll be using the internet to teach me and help me be an active, present parent. but i’m not going to spend any time trying to prove that to anyone with staged photos or one-upping. my kid has all secondhand clothes, because we’re poor and sustainable. but they’re cute and we love them. my home will be a mess sometimes, because my mental health has to come first.

but i bet there’s going to be so many new unexpected challenges too. i saw a video of a young girl doing a tiktok makeup storytime the other day, and it made me think about how many kids only spaces there are in society now. not many. so kids want to have phones and act like adults because there’s nowhere else for them to go. they don’t have play areas in mcdonalds anymore. i don’t even know where the nearest park with a swing and slide would be. so, how might we foster spaces like these for our children of the next generation? and how are you parenting differently, to try and raise a good human? how might things like AI tools affect our kids?

nothing i say is absolute fact of course, just my echochamber experience of the world. i also know silly labelled generations are just a marketing term and aren’t to be taken too seriously - more just thinking about what might affect kids born in the late 2020s.

i’m not even going to TOUCH on politics bc i don’t feel qualified enough to make those predictions but that’s going to be a massive part of it, too.

tl;dr unnecessary wall of text waffle in regards to the challenges of raising gen z and gen alpha, and what we might have to expect with gen ‘beta’
not certain i chose the right flair either!!!
 
@pgrocal Love the post.

I’m critical of the momsphere though sometimes. As often as moms online can be such a great resource for each other, they can also be incredibly toxic. And often that toxicity is wrapped in a smile and a sweet voice.

Instagram content about “every Saturday I make Braxtyn his weekly batch of organic breakfast cereal made of rolled oats and flax while he chats with Mommy and plays with his blocks that also teach him multiplication tables” — just in general selling this vision of motherhood that boils down to “if you were a better mom this wouldn’t be so hard.”

Also, our generation of parents need to step back on the hovering. Part of this is to blame on the influencer factor too. We will accept zero risk when it comes to our kids and I believe that’s bad for them.

Not only is it hard for this generation’s parents to give their kids a bit of space to explore and find limits on their own (within reason), but other parents will judge us for it when we do it in public places. Even if I’m standing ten feet away.

Also, being the source of our kids’ entertainment around the clock. Let them be bored sometimes. Let them keep doing what they’re doing on their own if they’re not gonna hurt themselves.

Momstagram has you believe for the most part that every moment you’re not sitting on the floor playing with your baby or toddler, or are otherwise not hyper-engaged, is a form of neglect. Absolutely not. Your kids don’t need you to be procuring enrichment at every second. They can play on their own. They will find enrichment.

This hovering quality I believe contributes to the epidemic of anxiety disorders in today’s youth. Kids who grew up constantly hovered over, directed, redirected and overcorrected. Sometimes, too much attention is a bad thing. Part of the reason parents lean so hard on iPads is they don’t want their kids to move because letting your kid wander a little is neglect, and the parents are exhausted.

We’ve got to lengthen the metaphorical leashes. I think our kids’ psyches will thank us.
 
@pgrocal This is such a thoughtful post! and interesting topic to think about!! My fiancé and I were just talking the other day about how a lot of people (at least online) that are having babies right now are only seeing them as babies, ie, naming them a name they think is cute on a chubby drooling infant, but not think of them as a teenager or adult in the workforce. I think sometimes we can go a bit overboard trying to bully-proof names and nicknames, but some people don’t think about that at all or care.

I’ve always been excited (of course for babies!) but to get to know who our child(ren) will be as they grow up. I’m looking forward to being able to adjust the things about my childhood that I “didn’t like” and fostering their individuality and creativity as much as I can. We’re excited for another person in our lives and to get to see them grow into who they are.

I am an older gen-z but my little brother and sister are gen alpha. We 1000% had different childhoods and different versions of our mom. It’ll be so interesting to see how our little gen beta’s and their cousins grow up in this crazy world 🌎
 
@mkudjoe So you named your baby Sue?

Gentle parenting is the way to go. Also, I’m trying not to rush my LO, I don’t want them to think banal things are urgent. I also don’t want them to listen to any conversations involving money unless it’s for literacy.
 
@servant31 I remember a neighbour friend who was around my age mentioned that her parents took money out of her education account to “put food on the table”. It seemed so shocking to me.

Looking back, we were definitely not well off but I never knew it as a kid. I would never want my kid to know about our financial struggles, why burden then with that?
 
@pgrocal I’m kind of loving the whole gentle parenting thing. I know older generations laugh at that, but I wonder what it’ll do for the future generation to be emotionally loved and understood. Very curious how that’s going to play out, i’m definitely doing a variant of gentle parenting too.
 
@helpofjesus We’re doing our own diy gentle parenting and I agree. One comment lives rent free in my head. I was talking to an acquaintance who has an 8 yo. She said something like “I do think I’ve accidentally taught him that the world will stop while an adult helps him manage his emotions, and that’s just not really the case.” Parenting a school-aged child is different, but I have noticed that we slow the household down (sometimes A LOT) when my oldest is having a hard time. Sometimes I wonder how much to talk it out vs how much to be like “you’re sad; we need to do xyz thing anyway; we’re going to do that now.”
 
@jely I struggle with this internal question every day. I want to validate my child's feelings and I want him to be expressive, but also, life happens and sometimes we need to buck up.
 
@jely I think maybe it can be organic. Sometimes as adults there is time to work through the emotion and sometimes it has to be put on the back burner. If you need to be moving on then becayse its time sensitive that's the time to say something similar but if you can take the time then I think you should.
 
@jely It’s all a balance. We all have to learn that sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to but at the same time we’re allowed to feel whatever feelings we’re having. Doesn’t mean we get to act however we please.
 
@pgrocal I think the parenting content on social media is worse than ever. People still disproportionately present what's socially desirable; maybe the target for social desirability moved and includes some mess now or whatever, but it's still really unrealistic. And way, way more of it is monetized.
 
@pgrocal I have no idea what to do, I’m literally 10 years older than you and on my first baby. I remember the advent of the internet. The extent of my computer usage at a young age was Oregon trail on a floppy disk. I plan to limit screen time, I used to nanny and the difference between kids on and off screens was night and day. And teachers told and are telling me that gen z and alpha have zero attention spans, to a frightening degree. We’ll have a family computer accessible in a family area when they’re older.

Gentle authoritative parenting is great. Permissive parenting does a disservice to children. You can gentle parent while still building resilience, I refuse to be a bulldozer or helicopter parent- my kid will grow up believing she can do hard things and understanding that not everything is about her, while also feeling loved and heard. Emotional regulation is one of the most important skills you can teach a kid.

I don’t do social media. Momfluencers aren’t real life. I hang out with moms irl and I come here. But idk why you’re assuming parents posting pictures of their kids are ‘trying to prove something’ or ‘one up’ others. Most of them are just sharing pictures of their kids with friends and family. Back in my parents day they had pictures in their wallets and would show off their kids to literal strangers.
 
@tfran not talking about people sharing pics of their kids on private accounts, sorry. im speaking as someone who has in the past made money from the tiktok creator fund. won’t be posting my kids on any of my public accounts at all. i have a private one with 100 followers who are all family and friends and that is the only place i will post pics of my kid! won’t be using them for viral content farming as many do
 
@yandi1204 i think gen b will ~technically~ start in 2025, so many have been conceived already.

my partner was born in 1996 and has never related to gen z in any way, he is a millenial through and through (even though he is technically a zoomer too) whereas i was born in 99 and am deffo an older gen z. so i think a clear cut off year is a bit pointless. either way, kids born now will be tackling totally different issues in terms of socioeconomic factors and parenting styles and whatever, than kids born 5-10 years ago! plus covid babies had their own completely unique experience
 
@pgrocal I love this post! While I agree with others, it seems like Gen Alpha will be until the end of 2024 (I laughed because I have a 17month old and am due Oct 1 so I told my husband good thing we won’t have an Alpha kid and a Beta kid lol), I do also think they will mush together like the end of Millennials and beginning of Gen Z has.

The main thing that’s now being done is gentle parenting and a big push for the non stimulating shows. I’m not against screen time I think it can be a really good learning tool. I also find it interesting that the end of millennials/ beginning of Gen Z grew up watching tv and started to play computer games but didn’t have the amount of issues you see people talk about with todays kids.

So while I allow screen time it’s tv only. I don’t think I’ll ever get him a tablet. I have an old non smart tv with a dvd player. I thrift movies and shows I grew up on which are mainly non stimulating. I’ve found that my son really enjoys going through them and picking out what he watches and he gets to watch one a day. This way he isn’t learning how to navigate any apps and can physically see what he wants. Plus I also don’t have to constantly monitor that he’s watching something appropriate.

This also may seem dumb but I’ve been practicing taking him places since he was young so he doesn’t feel the need to have a phone or tablet to entertain him. Like going out to eat for example. We have crayons, coloring pages and some small activity books. If I’m at a store I’m constantly talking with him about what we see to keep him engaged and avoid meltdowns lol.

I’ve also been seeing a lot of people put more emphasis on nature just with being outside more for play time but also learning about gardening etc which I love! I’m hoping to start doing more of that this summer too. On the same note even just being in the kitchen with kids showing them how to cook. I’ve noticed a lot of basic Montessori practices like that getting wrapped into the gentle parenting way too.

To sum it up I really do think Gen Z was an experimental generation that their parents didn’t know how bad it could get. I don’t put blame on the parents I think everyone was excited to see what the internet could do and how amazing it was. But I do love how so many people are learning from it and realizing to take a step back. Not even just parents, a lot of people seem to be picking up more hobbies and learning new skills to take a step away from all the screen time.
 
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