The mechanisms of millennial motherhood
Being the largest adult cohort across the world, currently, millennials make up 23% of the world population. Asia alone has a millennial population spanning 1.1 billion. As of 2023, millennials are now between the ages of 27 to 42, meaning that many of them are currently parents. There are some generational similarities in how people parent, so to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, we have listed some common parenting trends among millennial moms:
Millennials tend to wait longer to have kids
A mother’s age at the birth of her first child is much higher for millennials than for previous generations – according to Forbes, these days the average age of new mothers in developed countries is 31. This is because, in recent times, more women are choosing to get married and have children later, after getting their higher education and starting their careers. Moreover, many millennial women have spent the last decade focused on building their careers in the wake of the 2008 recession. The ‘work until you’re dead’ culture, coupled with the financial implications that come with raising a child, many women of this generation decided to delay having children until their economic and professional goals were met.
Millennial mothers turn to the internet for advice
Unlike moms of previous generations who used to seek this sort of advice from their relatives, most millennial parents get theirs from the internet. Millennials are a generation of people who grew up with the Internet and electronic devices, so they are technologically adept and comfortable with using the internet and social media. New millennial moms depend on the internet to provide answers to their frantic questions; they trust the online community and gain insight from their collective experiences. Millennials are also the first generation who have had to navigate a culture where everyone is connected via social media, a place where people document everything about their respective lives including their experiences of raising their kids. In a way, millennials are still taking advice from family based on their experiences – except the family is now anyone who is connected to them through the internet and can provide a satisfactory answer to the question they are asking.
Millennial parents value positive parenting over authoritative discipline so they tend to reinforce positive behaviour with rewards rather than punishing their children for doing something wrong.
Millennial mothers are more attentive and involved
Millennial mothers value work-life balance and quality time with their children. They are more likely than older generations to actively try and make time for their children, listen to them, and be more approachable to their children than their mothers were to them. Millennial mothers tend to talk to their children and listen to them, for example, if their child tells them they are full, they will not force them to finish their food. Millennial parents value positive parenting over authoritative discipline so they tend to reinforce positive behaviour with rewards rather than punishing their children for doing something wrong. Parents of this generation try to understand why their kids are acting out and address the issue by giving them a logical explanation.
Millennial mothers talk about emotions and social stigmas with their kids
Due to the lacking they felt while they were growing up, millennial parents encourage their children to feel their feelings; to examine and express their emotions. More millennials have actually been diagnosed with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression than older generations, so it is not surprising that millennial parents are more concerned with their children’s mental health and invest more time in trying to understand their emotions. Millennial parents are more concerned with social justice, so they are more aware of specific needs their children may have or issues they might face. As a result, millennial mothers talk about social stigmas openly with their children so that they are also aware. They encourage gender-neutral toys and let their kids choose their own clothes and activities without enforcing gender stereotypes.
Millennial mothers are able to share the load (more than Boomer mothers at least)
Millennial mothers also have partners who are more likely to take on housework and childcare than in the past, even though mothers still take on most of it. Millennial fathers spend more time with their children than fathers in previous generations and acknowledge the importance of children having a healthy relationship with their fathers. Moreover, millennial parents are keen on breaking the age-old stereotype where the mothers were in charge of all the chores such as cleaning, feeding and tutoring while fathers only joined in for the fun stuff – these days parents tend to share the workload equally, for instance, there are more and more stay at home dads taking care of housework and kids while the mothers maintain a nine to five job when both parents work they take turns in running errands and doing the chores.