Boomer parents

[Freesamples]

Anyone else got a boomer for a parent that a) has no idea how the world currently works and b) loves to put the boot in and c) is absolutely delusional about how much things cost.

me, I love to sniff out a bargain, crowning glory the summer hols I’ve booked for me, dh and dcs. 4 star+ AI, 2 adults 2 kids, package £2k and in summer holidays. Absolute belter. All to be met with a chorus of how expensive that is and how much we’re over paying and how they’d spend no more than £1k on holidays for us (in the mid early 00s). Plus, don’t want to go there, they hate brits, it’s too hot. (All places we went as kids btw)

it can’t be just me

The boomer generation seem to be the only generation that begrudge the “modernising” of life e.g. sky tv, comparatively cheaper travel abroad, avocados etc. for the next generation, despite them having a significantly better deal then the generation before them I.e. no world wars, no rationing, better sanitation etc.

What a load of rubbish.

Technically the boomer generation WERE the modernising of life in their time.

My parents born in the postwar years were educating themselves, travelling abroad and aspiring to new and different things in their formative years.

I hate these ignorant generalisations. OP's parents sound a PITA but that's because they are a PITA.

But you’ve never experienced a lot of what they had to put up with though.

There is a feeling from younger generations that no one has ever had things so difficult. Some things are harder some things a lre a hell of a lot easier. That’s always been the case for each generation.

When todays kids grow up they will look at your generation and complain their lives are a lot more difficult, you’re prejudiced against whatever they’re passionate about. Your generation didn’t stop x injustice. You don’t understand the world they live in. Their kids will grow up to do the same to them. The boomer generation probably thought the sane about their parents and authority.

The laughable thing is each young generation comes along, criticises their parents generation, hits 40 and turns into them (although they’re so so adamant they never will it’s as predictable as night following day)

Try being parented by men and women damaged both physically and mentally from a war. Many boomers had to contend with that. Its rarely if ever mentioned.

Well I’m that case we should cancel 99% of the internet. We could especially apply it to OPs original post. That’s not nice so why start the thread? Fo you think that is troll behaviour?

Tbh every generation looks onto the older one with raised eyebrows. It's not called the generation gap for nothing.

'Twas ever thus.

You have a valid point. Some older people just don't get it but you have shot yourself in the foot by using the word boomer. People are not going to see past that.

I do remember what my parents had to deal with in the 80s, but their situation is entirely different from mine. Both their children left home at 17/18 so, as they acknowledge, have been financially very undemanding. I have two disabled children in their 20s who cost a fortune in services, they had their mortgage paid off and could travel at my age. Comparatively they have had it easy. I'm not saying they haven't had their own challenges because everyone does, but their lack of understanding shows in their comments in terms of their expectations of me. I can't imagine a world where I am in the same position as them at my age. My life would be so much easier and I'd have so much money. Instead, I get to hear them expect me to be able to do what they could do at my age with an empty nest, what they expect from me in terms of support (something they never gave their own parents because their siblings did it), a situation I can't see the end of, so I do think they had it comparatively easy.

I am hoping to materially make things easier for my children than we had it. It's also very likely I won't quite grasp all aspects of the world my grandchildren live in.

The boomer generation seem to be the only generation that begrudge the “modernising” of life e.g. sky tv, comparatively cheaper travel abroad, avocados etc. for the next generation, despite them having a significantly better deal then the generation before them I.e. no world wars, no rationing, better sanitation etc.

Begrudge it? I'm loving it! Especially the cheaper travel, and avocados.

‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’

You must be very busy writing that on the many many posts on MN which are far nastier!

@Freesamples why oh why would you crow about the price of your holiday to your parents? How strange. I don't think I ever discussed the money side of things with mine. They wouldn't have been interested. They just wanted to know where I was going.
It sounds like you take a lot of pleasure from your thrifting. And that's great. I have a friend who enjoys the same. But perhaps your family find it a little less interesting.

I’m a boomer and I’m all too aware of what things cost, but IMO it’s often just a generational thing with the elderly. My Dm (born 1918) used to bang on even many years ago about women going to work instead of staying at home with their own small children.

I used to say e.g. ‘Do you realise how even a one bed flat around here now costs £60k?’ (More like £350k now!).

Her head was still in an era when you could buy a nice 4 bed house on one very modest salary - even if that meant you were utterly skint nearly all the time. But it was possible.

That was my grandparents generation. Definitely something I hope younger generations never have to experience.

Can we then redefine the word 'boomer' to mean 'someone who had to work to rebuild the world economy after the disaster of WW2'?

The thing about we Baby Boomers (does the OP know what the term means?) is that we’ve been you but you haven’t yet been us.

Pop back in thirty years and let's see how the world looks to you then.

I'm a boomer and it'd never occur to me to compare the price of things to how the younger generations spend their money , as how can you compare different things .

If I complain about the price of things it's because of.........................the price 😅

That sounds so unfair @ContentSolitude . Have you pointed out to them that you'll be busy looking after your disabled children, when your parents lay down their plans for you supporting them? Do you have any siblings?

Lazy, ageist stereotyping by the OP.

I'm at the younger end of that generation and am horrified and well aware of the COL and how much it's gone up.

And for those saying we're the generation that lived through the war, no we're not, it was a post-WW2 baby boom. But many of us women did, and still do, fight sexism and campaigned for equal pay and maternity rights.

Well, I guess we’ve sorted the boomers from the millennials anyway.

Indeed. I assume, when their parent die, they will sell their house for the same price their parents paid for it.

Maybe it's about nostalgia and an audience. My experience in museums was that, aside from the few vocal and repetitive types, most people didn't talk about there WW2 experiences. It was often unpleasant, sometimes amazing but then not something you would shout about.
The Boomers are almost jumping up and down to talk about their hardships to a younger audience and when 15% interest rates came along for a few months, christ don't we get to hear about it.
I also think the Boomers were the last generation to get a lot of religious input on lifestyle choices. So there's an element of that behind some of their comments which many have had to work hard to overcome.

Yes, I have pointed this out to them. I think they understand but have stuck their head in the sand. In fact, I know they have after discussions. I have been very clear with them out of necessity though. My sibling lives even further away than I do and my parents expect me to do the caring for various reasons.

As for generational stuff, I'm gen X and I know my catch phrase when I'm old will be how glad I am that I had most of my childhood before the internet. Life was much simpler. Younger generations will likely roll their eyes at that. 😄

and they don't like it when they are the ones on the receiving end

And neither will you when all us Boomers are dead and it's your turn to encounter spiteful ageism.

Probably sick of hearing you moaning that you have no money but apparently have plenty to fritter on a non essential luxury!!

It's not about the cost of things per se. It's about how your generation think nothing of wasting £40 on new eyelashes or nails, £4 on a cup of coffee and £150 on a pair of trainers - none of which are needed.

Simple solution - stop telling them how much you've spent and stop moaning you're broke.

No, my 71 year old mother is absolutely nothing like this.