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

Well in that case, let’s start rolling out other discriminatory slurs. Shall we start with sexist or racist ones?

the word boomer isn't horrible, it's simply the name of the generation. same way people my age are "gen z," people in their 30s and early 40s are "millennials," and people in their 40s and 50s are "gen x." it's short for baby boomer.

@LawrieForShepherdsBoy slurs? where?
the word boomer is not a slur and never has been. it's short for baby-boomer.

Ageism

this is just your parents being themselves. Not a problem with an entire generation.

All I want to know if where are you going for 2k for 2 adults and 2 kids????

Well, without specifying, I can think of several descriptors which, when shortened, suddenly become terms of abuse. I don't think I have ever heard the word 'boomer' being used in a complimentary way.

My parents are like this. My mother’s eyebrows reach for the heavens if I spend on anything non-essential. My Dad says “what do you need that for?” in every shop (except the aisle of doom in LIDL / ALDI, where he’ll buy any old crap because it’s a fiver). I remember my me & my sister having to explain to him how modern work-life is, as he had a cushty number plus early retirement. My mother didn’t work. Fair play though them, but they don’t understand the new family / financial dynamics.

It’s always a slur when it’s used on here.

🙄

I'm a 'boomer'. Just back today from a holiday with my 15yo son, so yes, I do know what holidays cost and no, I don't behave like that.

You are extraordinarily bigoted. If your parents annoy you, that's one thing, but spare us the ageist bullshit please.

@Funnywonder it's neither positive nor negative, just the name of the generation. same as calling a tall person a tall person, a child a child, a blonde a blonde, and a doctor a doctor.

@AppleDumplingWithCustard then surely "millennial," "gen z," and "gen x" should be regarded the same way? they're simply descriptors

I have boomer parents who worked very hard to get what they have now (at one point my mother worked 3 jobs). I have huge respect and appreciation for them for giving me the opportunities that they didn't have.

Boomers still go on holiday so know exactly how much holidays cost now. Unless your parents never go anywhere I fail to understand how they couldn't have noticed this.

This. So much this.

I have boomer parents, they think things are expensive, but so do I! They don’t diss my spending or criticise my choices (my grandparents, part of the “greatest generation” would have though, my mum in particular had to put up with that when they were still alive). They love hot places, my father still travels (mum can’t) and both would have thought your bargain trip was fantastic, even if they think it’s a lot of money.

I don’t think this is generational. I have (not very close!) friends who are my age who criticise everything that isn’t what they do and know.

It’s not great to be around, though. I get why you want to rant about it!

Boomer has a particularly negative and nasty connotation, in the way that calling a woman a Karen does. Anyone who says otherwise is being deliberately obtuse.

Boomers that are used for childcare? And helping parents who can't manage their finances? Or house parents and grandchildren when 'we are building a new house', These boomers?

I was born in 62 so a similar age to your parents but I am all too aware of how much things cost- how do they not know how much things cost

My parents have never done any of that.

My parents are boomers and I've noticed that in recent times my mother has started saying some of the things that would be considered 'stereotypical boomer'. My father doesn't though. He seems to understand the reality more. Maybe it's personality because my mother has always tended to minimise things that affect other people, so it's consistent.

Agree

The term baby boomer did indeed start as a descriptor of a generation. But language evolves - and it is now so frequently used in a negative way that it has become offensive.

It can seem to be the equivalent of the terms Gen Z or millennial. Terms which are largely inoffensive. But the way it is now used means it’s no longer a shorthand way of describing an age group.

Like the name Karen. Not offensive at all until it is repeatedly used to perpetuate negative stereotypes about a group of people.

Here on MN it is almost exclusively used when painting a negative picture of someone (usually parents of the poster). The term Boomer is always added as a superfluous piece of info, and yet as if it somehow adds legitimacy to posters grievance.

This.
I could say a lot more, but this encapsulates it perfectly.

Ha, quite.

But why share ? I haven't told my mother the true cost of my purchases since I was about 15 and started earning my own money. Neither do my adult DCs share with me.