Baby boomers and parenting - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS - The US population soared during 1946 and 1964 before access to birth control pills. There was a coast-to-coast wave of unexpected pregnancies and so-called shotgun weddings resulting in widespread divorce among Baby Boomers.

Chuck Underwood is a generational expert and says, "Suddenly we had two-career parents, time-starved parents, often times exhausted parents and absentee parents. That put pressure on the parents and that put extreme pressure on the upbringing of their Generation-X children."

Not only did Boomers skyrocket the divorce rate, they also, thanks to the women's movement, became the nation's first widespread dual-career couples like Vincent and MaryAnn Short of Avon.

"We even looked at can we afford for one of us not to work. But because of the things we wanted to do, we found we needed the dual income and we needed both of us to work," says MaryAnn Short.

They have two incomes from two different work shifts to support four sons from another generation. But they're raising them with Baby Boomer values.

MaryAnn Short says, "Building of your moral character - that foundation is very critical, it's a weekly thing we're very involved in the activities going on."

Not every Gen X kid was so lucky. Many can remember being part of the "latchkey generation" where they came home to an empty house after school. Gen X'ers say the positive lesson is that their parents modeled the value of hard work.

Brandon Jones, a Gen X'er, says, "I don't believe in having anything unless you work for it. You don't find very many young people that believe that."

It's the Baby Boomer attitude that anything is possible with hard work. Like the Shorts, they hope it's a value and character that's passed down to other generations.

"When we grew up you said yes maam, no maam, yes sir and no sir and we require that of our kids," says Vincent Short.

But for Gen X'ers who grew up with little parental involvement, they're parenting differently.

Underwood says, "Gen X'ers are called the family first generation. I'm gonna' be there for my kid with time physical presence. And I'm gonna' give my kids structure and guidelines."

The Generations Project