Children who grew up in the richest, most secure period in US History "had to fend for themselves from an early age"? Talk about drama queen teen angst and hysteric nonsense.
Xers were born in the 70s. Yers were born in the 80s.
Many Xers got stuck with Carterite families.
Perhaps a little overdramatic, but still not totally untrue. Kids of single or divorced or separated parents had to come home to an empty house and take care of themselves until the parent got home -- possibly late, because the parent needed to work the extra hours for a little extra pay.
There's a little extra responsibility put on the child other than "don't burn the house down" (and of course "Don't lose the key!")
Keep in mind also that boomer families tend to be smaller than in years past. The latchkey kids might be one of 2 or 3 instead of the youngest of seven (that's me, but my Mom was home until I was in high school).
And they had cell phones, 500 plus tv channels and IPOD!
Dude! Do you have any idea what it's like to bust your butt just to get up early in the morning to stand in line to get the new X-Box!!?
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Talk about drama queen teen angst and hysteric nonsense.
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Amen, Johnnie! Please read my post no. 88 on this subject.
No, I know what the author is saying, this was me. I grew up middle class in the seventies and eighties. This was the period when mothers really started leaving the home en masse to work, by divorce or choice, thereby leaving the kids to their own means.
My mom worked in my dad's office, my buddy's mom also worked. Two other families in our neighborhood had houses in which a parent split. All of us had the run our houses (and neighborhood, and woods, and arcades...) for hours after school and during school breaks. It wasn't "angsty", "hysterical" (ok, sometimes it was that) or anything dramatic, it just involved junk food, bb guns, discovered stashes of Hustler, atari, experiments with gasoline, and lots of bad cable. Personally I'm often surprised we all reached adulthood with all our fingers and toes.
In any event, those days are mostly gone from the middle and upper class, as nowadays, every minute of a child's day is scheduled with a government approved, developmentally stimulating activity that involves a nutritious snack and regimented water breaks. Probably better, but it seems the pendulum has swung too far.
In any event, I agree with the authors assessment on this point.