Nothing brings people together like a good meme. Especially when it hilariously captures a parenting truth so many of us can relate to: todayâs gentle parenting versus our parentsâ boomer parenting. By the time I saw Taylor Wolfe of @thedailytayâs reel comparing the two parenting styles, our entire team at The Everymom had seen it, shared it, or received it. âMy sister sent that to my fam saying itâs my mom and me haha,â said our CEO and cofounder Alaina Kaz. âI sent this to my mom bc this is as if they recorded my mom and sister,â said our senior sales manager Megan Kemp. âHaha my SIL sent this to me this morning,â shared editorial intern Patty Schepel.
In the two days since Wolfe posted her video about teaching her boomer mom about millennial parenting, it has been viewed a whopping 20+ million times, has been shared 900K+ times, and has over 600K likes. Why did this one hit the comparison of millennial gentle parenting and boomer parenting so perfectly? Well, not only is Wolfe among the best (and hilarious) creators on the worldwide web, but she also featured her boomer mom, Sandy. And the juxtaposition of the two women might just be the most relatable thing youâll see today.Â
âTeaching My Boomer Mom About Millennial Parentingâ
Wolfe, a mom of two, follows her mom through typical daily parenting momentsâat the playground, in the playroom, and leaving the house. We watch the two struggle to understand each other as Wolfe guides her mom on what to sayâand what not to sayâto her kids to follow a gentle parenting style.
The Videoâs Gentle Parenting Translations for Boomers
Somehow this video captures my daily inner monologue as I try to say the ârightâ thing. My intuition usually leans more toward boomer. But then, every article or post Iâve ever read scrolls through my mind, and I try to use the millennial translation. Do these run through your head, too?
Boomer: âBe carefulâ
Millennial: âWhatâs your plan here?â
Boomer: âStop hitting your sisterâ
Millennial: âGentle handsâ
Boomer: âIâm so proud of youâ
Millennial: âYou should be so proudâ
Boomer: âGood jobâ
Millennial: âGood choiceâ
Boomer: âWe gotta go.â
Millennial: Rushing them will give them anxiety.
Boomer: âWatch outâ
Millennial: âDo you feel safe here?
Gentle Parenting vs. Boomer Parenting
Itâs no secret parents today are overloaded with information on how to âdo parenting right.â Many have adopted a gentle parenting styleâan approach that puts a childâs emotional development front and center. While our boomer moms might have read the occasional magazine article or called their friends from the home landline for advice, they didnât have expert research and influencersâ best parenting hacks in the palm of their hand (not to mention, itâs laughable to even imagine my Boomer dad picking up a parenting magazine).Â
Boomers were able to trust their intuition more without fear of judgment or constant comparison. Not that they always had it right. âMy mom is peak alarmist. âYou are going to fall and break your head open,ââ shared our director of brand partnerships Alexandra Wolf.
A commenter on Wolfeâs video, @luvberger, asked, âSince when did boomer parents say things like, âIâm so proud of you.â With one reply saying, âWhen they became grandparents lol.â
Should We Try Parenting More Like Boomers?
Now that weâre the parents, many of us are trying to correct our parentsâ âmistakesâ with our kids. And while we all have the very best intentions, sometimes it takes putting a mirror up to ourselves to laugh at some of the overcorrection. Some of the comments on Wolfeâs video point out what our Boomer parents might just have gotten right:
âI read the same article and we didnât tell our kids we were proud of them for a long time, we said âthatâs so impressive!â or something like that. ThenâŠmy tween said, âwell you never even tell me youâre proud of meâ OMG I felt so badâŠNow I tell them all the time that Iâm proud of them! They need it and like to hear it!â wrote @rachelwilloww.
âIâm all for gentle parenting but honestly I feel like the world is not a gentle place and sometimes we gotta be a little bit boomer mom with these kidsâŠotherwise theyâre gonna be in for a really rude awakening when they go out into the world,â commented @namaste_time_out.
âI started millennial by the 3rd kid Iâm a boomer, â wrote @leiteletemari.
Additionally, the comment section loves Wolfeâs mom Sandy (who you can follow here!). They want her merch and even to have her as their mom. But what seemed to bring everyone togetherâincluding millennial and boomer parentsâwas Sandyâs last line: âI donât feel safe about any of this s*it.â
Kathy Sisson, Senior Editor
A mom of two, Kathy is passionately committed to sharing the honest, helpfulâand often humorousâstories of motherhood, as she navigates her own everyday adventures of work, marriage, and parenting. She honed her creative and strategic skills at advertising agencies in Detroit and Chicago, before pivoting from marketing to editorial. Now instead of telling brand stories, sheâs sharing her own, with articles published across popular parenting sitesâincluding hundreds of stories on The Everymom.