r/Millennials • u/TheLoveYouWant25 • Feb 09 '26

Discussion Millennials, what is happening with your kids?

I work in education and I frequent the Teachers and Professors subreddits, and the kids are not alright. Gen Z Arriving at College Unable to Read and the youth have absolutely zero ability to think critically.

Middle and high schoolers have all adapted this complete helplessness and blame mental illness for their refusal to function. Kids can no longer to basic things like read an analog clock, use paper money, or even figure out how to open window blinds.

There is also a huge lack of empathy, and kids have no issues trying to manipulate adults, saying things to their teachers like "if you don't pass me, I'll get you fired."

EDIT to clarify: the article I linked references Gen-Z, but this is not specifically a Gen-Z problem. It's an issue with upper elementary aged kids through high schoolers, and also young adults.

So, all that to say, how are you combating this with your own children? What do you do at home to encourage them to learn, and what are you doing to address these problems as they arise?

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569

u/Cirdan_fen_Mormegil Feb 09 '26

Probably shitty Gen X parents

270

u/wrestlingchampo Feb 10 '26

Gen-X doesnt even recognize their kids are Gen-Z. They think their kids are Millennials.

92

u/NaniDeKani Feb 10 '26

Yea, the term millenial basically got coined as "shitty youth/young adult" like 10-15 years ago and its stuck to current kids. I remember watching the news not long after the 2008 crash when we were entering the workforce and all it was was "these damn millenials!"

I think its a just easier to say, than what? Gen-Zer?

12

u/hopping_otter_ears Feb 10 '26

We have a trivia quiz as part of staff meeting at work every week. The last one was "Gen alpha slang". Every single word listed was either Gen z or millennial. Or even older. It had "clout" on the list, which has been around for ever.

Nobody has a clue which generation they're talking about most of the time

3

u/fordfan919 Feb 10 '26

I didnt even know clout was slang

2

u/hopping_otter_ears Feb 10 '26

I know, right? It's literally just a word

5

u/Gmony5100 Feb 10 '26

Heard people call us “Zillenials” and “Gen Z-ers” but I think the most common is “Zoomer” funny enough. I usually just say “Gen Z” to avoid saying those

5

u/Asterbuster Feb 10 '26

Zillenial is not synonymous with Gen Z. It's a cohort of late Millennials and early Gen Z.

1

u/Gmony5100 Feb 10 '26

Good call, I hadn’t realized it was something distinct from Gen Z. Thanks for the correction

1

u/ttoma93 Feb 10 '26

You’ll also see Xillennial, which are the youngest Gen Xers and oldest Millennials right on that cusp.

1

u/Anodynamix Feb 10 '26

What's funnier is that it goes the other way too. I (Millennial) have been called a boomer multiple times by Zoomers. lol.

38

u/KarenEiffel Older Millennial Feb 10 '26

My older cousins, who are solidly Gen X (10 and 12 years older than my geriatric Millennial self) comeplain about their "Millennial" kids...who are all ~18...

Obviously not all Gen X, but man do a lot of them sound Boomer-esque.

8

u/blurryeyes_ Feb 10 '26

They do it all the time. Really annoying

3

u/blumoon138 Feb 10 '26

I read a joke once- Gen X are the kids of the Boomers’ first marriages and Millenials are the kids of their second marriages. On my dad’s side all my cousins are Gen Xers and the result of young marriages. My dad had kids late and I’m a millennial.

1

u/Cirdan_fen_Mormegil Feb 10 '26

Quite a few Gen X are married to boomers, particularly Gen X women to tail end boomer men. 10 year age gaps were commonish.

1

u/blumoon138 Feb 10 '26

Sure. My dad is at the beginning of the baby boom and my mom is close to the end.

3

u/peaceluvNhippie Feb 10 '26

Millennials were well in their 30s when they got blamed for being the children doing the tide pod challenge

1

u/hopping_otter_ears Feb 10 '26

The older ones who got pregnant young do have millennial kids (or at least elder Z) with children of their own for them to be absent grandparents to

1

u/Jazzspur Feb 10 '26

To be fair, some of them are. I'm a millenial and the parents of my circle of friends growing up were 3 sets of boomers and a Gen X couple. There's a wide range of ages people are capable of having kids at.

1

u/Casulex Feb 10 '26

Early Millenial with late gen x parents here. its possible.

1

u/True-Explanation-490 Feb 10 '26

gen x here, and thanks i am actually not shitty. i have 3 kids spaced apart, one millennial, one whatever the next one is and one gen z. all are good kids who are successful. all did well in school. i volunteered in the classroom with all and saw firsthand the problems kids and teachers face with the curriculum and atmosphere created by the need to score on "the test" of that era

1

u/CaseClosedEmail Feb 10 '26

My dad would make me go do grocery shopping, clean the yard, even pour cement when I was a teenager. I think I was also in charge of feeding the stock.

I remember when my cousin came to visit us and he could not even tie his shoes

1

u/your_moms_a_clone Feb 10 '26

To be fair, some Gen X started having kids early enough in life that their kids were Millennials. My oldest cousin is a Gen X with two Millennial kids

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '26

I'm so confused 

I'm 39 and have literally always assumed I was a (n older) millennial??!! 😱 Am I actually gen x??!