Worried about future generations lack of personal history

[Allonthesametrain]

Just had a big family get together and sharing experiences of growing up. GPs stories of WW2, growing up on rations, real history dialogue, which we as DC know, also our DC were enthralled.

Us as parents, growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in our youths, we tell them how we lived before major technology, they listen to our music and love some if it.

I do wonder, our DC will share their experiences of growing up and, not all I know, but had a gender reveal, had princess outfits every birthday, told how beautiful I was every day on SM by parents and everyone.

Just such a vast contrast when as kids we were expected to be not seen and heard to being the centre of attention.

So going forward, being the centre of attention within the sphere of adoring parents and all attached, is this realistic for expecting everyone else in the real world our DC has to go in to?

Of course not. Our DC and are indeed the centre of our world but posting on SM every birthday, how amazing he/she looks, does set a predecent to expectations.

Our DC know first hand about the struggles of the past, but go forward a few generations, no matter what has been passed on, it's irrelevant.

Am I being a bit concerned that several generations from now, not for all but many people, will only know the newest false eyelashes, plastic surgery, pumped up lips, following a sheep fashion of long straightened hair or whatever is in vogue for model perfection.

I know this is beyond my time on earth but it's natural to worry about what the future holds for our future world 🌎

My grandfather lost his brother in WW2. His mum, my great grandmother, found out months later by receiving a telegram.

The whole family would have preferred for him not to have that story to tell. I don't know why we romanticise horrible things that happened in the past. You want this generation to go through something horrible so that they can entertain future generations with stories about it? I mean they'll have COVID and they may well have climate collapse too, I don't understand why you'd want that though.

What on earth are you talking about? By the time our children are grown up and elderly the world will be a different place. They might tell their grandchildren about the last time it snowed, or when people used to ski in the Alps. They'll remember covid and mobile phones.....which will undoubtedly be replaced by some other tech by then. They'll remember when people ate UPF's and fast food and were fat. They'll remember combustion engines and when there used to be bees flying around. Who knows what the future will bring but one thing is for sure, history is always created because the world is always changing.

Sounds like a new verse to We Didn’t Start the Fire.

I think Billy J should do an updated version actually, he stopped just before the Berlin Wall came down so he’s got more than enough for part 2 and 3 now

Arguably one if the most fascinating generations were the 1960’s and 70’s for music and art. The Victorians for medicine and engineering. The 80’s for politics.
The 60’s were an extraordinary decade. Unlikely to ever repeat .

What will matter is whether anyone will want to listen about the past.
I fear recent generations don’t. And are therefore not influenced or educated by it.
Just the now.

GPS stories of ww2? How old are they to remember it? Ww2 ended over 80 years ago now. Most current children’s grandparents weren’t even alive.

The current generation of children have the Covid lockdown surely? Probably the most unusual shared experiencency type thing that’s happened in this country since ww2

Am I being a bit concerned that several generations from now, not for all but many people, will only know the newest false eyelashes, plastic surgery, pumped up lips, following a sheep fashion of long straightened hair or whatever is in vogue for model perfection

I think this statement says more about you tbh. I have friends in their 50's who would fail any exam on many issues up against my teen dc. As with every generation, there will be those who are educated (I don't mean formally either) and well read, and those who aren't.

It is perfectly natural that Gen Z and those that follow will not be as interested in the 2nd world war etc. But no different to many of my Gen X contemporaries tbh.

Your worry is a bit misplaced and pointless.

Of course not. Our DC and are indeed the centre of our world but posting on SM every birthday, how amazing he/she looks, does set a predecent to expectations.

Who does this?!

Am sure they will have plenty of their own war stories - quarantine, pandemic, how they were unable to afford their own house so had to live with their parents until their 30s, stories about how they would have to cover their drinks when they go out, how if not them then a chunk of their friends have mental health issues and anxiety, how youth unemployment rates were so high they waited two years just to get a job.

I don’t think they are the ones living in a vapid, indulged world. This post is just weird - will they be talking about how they got a princess outfit every year on their birthday?! No, no they wont.

My parents lived through the blitz, they were children at the time.

Well my children will be able to share how they survived after their dad died when they were 6 and 9. And how in their teens one became amazing at his competitive sport, the other loved to dance and went on her amazing school trips abroad experiencing the world. But that’s probably not enough suffering for you to be co soldered worthy.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that living through COVID was as bad as living through a world war. I think most people are saying that surely it's a good thing that none of our generations (assuming none of us were born in or before the 1930s) have lived through a world war.

I think that suggesting that living through something horrendous is character building, builds resilience etc, is romanticising and minimising. Living through horrendous things can totally destroy surviving families and their mental health & resilience. Lots of the world's population are currently living through war, famine, natural disasters. Let's be glad that we're so, so much more fortunate.

This

The centering of children is also causing MH issues and anxiety, it creates a burden on children that they cannot manage.

Not really understanding your point. We might not even have ‘several generations from now’ as we understand it due to existential threats from climate change or AI. Young people have to live with those worries. I’m not really surprised they focus on frippery as it’s a distraction from existential doom.

Depends how old they are doesn't it. ? Any under 9 or 9 now will have no clear recollection of it

According to some posters on this thread, all our kids are going to die so there's no point to life at all. I'm so glad I live in the real world and not the newspapers. Catastrophic predictions have been the staple for sensationalist newspapers and journalists since time began but, suddenly, we're taking it all as guaranteed predictors and condemning our children to this nonsense. Hope the youth have the good sense to ignore this negativity and live long, happy lives way from the media!!!

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/18-spectacularly-wrong-apocalyptic-predictions-made-around-the-time-of-the-first-earth-day-in-1970-expect-more-this-year-2/

My dad lived through it Would've been 87 this year if he was still alive so plenty of others around of that age group

Things will always evolve and fade into further history OP. Do you feel like you have missed out because there was no one alive to tell you about their personal experience of the Napoleonic War or the Peterloo Massacre for example? It’s older history, just like WW2 will be to younger generations which seems sad for those of us who have had the direct interactions with the wonderful generations that lived through it. It’s the passage of time though and nothing new, just your perspective.

Exactly my parents are in their very late 80s, my mum's dad was a fireman in the Blitz.

Most of these brave men that went to war had no fucking choice. You’re looking at the past with seriously rose tinted specs and minimising what current generational challenges are from a very Westernised viewpoint. There are always challenges- life isn’t all that easy for majority of the planet for the majority of history.

I’m Irish. We weren’t affected by WW2 in the same way. Rationing etc is not something I ever heard about from relatives.
We did have a famine though.
Do you think after a generation or two, Irish people sat around with their remaining relatives (if they had any) and had conversations about how almost starving to death made them more resilient, less self absorbed and all round better people?

Yes??

I do agree that the experience of childhood has shifted much much faster in the last 20 years than it has for maybe 75-80 years before that.

are your kids particularly shallow and disinterested?

I don't know any primary age kid who doesn't know about the world wars, and they'll grow up with parents and grandparents who fought or fled other conflicts.

my kids listen to my music, read my books, watch my movies. we tell them about growing up without all the tech they have and as it develops, thetll5talk to their kids about growing up without whatever is new.

they'll remember the death of at least two Monarchs. the first visit to the dark side of the moon. the next moon landings and why it matters who's on that rocket. maybe the first human on the moon.

if we vote in Farage they'll have their own childhoods of misery to talk about and they can tell their kids about when the NHS used to be free!

they'll have exactly the same normal growing up drama as we did albeit different.

I don't know anyone who posts about their child's looks at every birthday. about how great their kid is maybe, but certainly not every parent and there's nothing wrong with your parents bigging you up.

no generation is without it's issues but I think you either need to work on how you treat your kids or find better friends.

Why are you worried about things that honestly don't matter than much? The younger generation have their own lives and will make their own memories.