and then just stop typing. I started this with good intentions of writing an entire article. Now I am not so sure. I am a GenX Mom raising a Gen Alpha child. I am truly from the FAFO generation. I live by that motto. I love by that motto. I am not here for drama, I am not here to preach, I am just here for the memories, both old and new. I am a neurodivergent adhd adult trying to navigate normally in this world, all while trying to raise a grandbaby that we recently adopted.
Does anyone else notice there is a large number of us GenX’ers raising grandbabies? This is my 10th grandchild and the last grandchild, and although I am blessed that we have her, I am a tired momma. Exhaustipated if you will. Too damn tired to give a shit. But with a baby, you have to care. This is that journey.
I think a lot of us struggled to raise our children. We were raised by boomers. And I know this is said a lot, but we were the first latchkey kids, left on our own for sometimes hours. I started cooking when I was 9. We were kicked out of the house as soon as we were awake, fed, and dressed and were expected to stay outside and out of our parents’ way. So much so, we didn’t come home until the street lights were on. We were warned about kidnappers in vans, but yet, we walked to school daily, alone. No chaperones, no adults holding our hands, just us and other local kids who happened to be passing by.
When you were outside playing, there was no going in and out of the house. Exceptions were injury and bathroom breaks. We seriously drank out of a water hose if we were thirsty. Our parents weren’t watching us from a window. My mom watched 5 hours of soap operas and the price is right religiously. We better not interrupt if we knew what was good for us.
What was good for us? We didn’t get time-outs. We didn’t get gentle talks. We didn’t talk about our feelings and emotions. Doing so would get us slapped. Or spanked. Yes, spanked. Not just with the hand. Shoes, fly swatters, wooden spoons, wooden paddles, belts, and switches just to begin. Calling cps wasn’t a thing. Hell, our parents allowed the schools to spank us when we got out of line. (I will share my experience with this in another post)
Our parents were so far out of our lives that they had commercials. One earlier in the night asking our parents if they have hugged their kids today. And one at 10p every night. “It’s 10 pm, do you know where your kids are?” *pauses for a moment*
Fucking commercials to remind their parents that they even had kids. This is where our failures as parents will come into play. Shit like what you’ve just read.
Everyone jokes about not poking the GenX generation. Let sleeping dogs lie. And they aren’t wrong. We sit back in the background, just watching as things play out. Why? Because we were told to shut up all through our developmental years. Lots of hugs and kisses? Wasn’t a thing. We are just moving through life doing our own thing because that was our life.
We were here before gaming consoles, computers, the internet, bitcoin. We are literally older than Google, myspace, and Facebook, only fans, you name it, more than likely it isn’t something we knew growing up. We had imaginations, we played for hours, either with friends, or alone. Either way worked for us. I grew up with my nose in books, just reading and reading on the floor of our library, trying to win as many personal pan pizzas as I could through the book it club. We never used the free pizzas, but I earned them.
We had 8-track, vinyl, and cassettes. We were around when VCRs became a thing. Please be kind and rewind. Blockbusters, family movie nights, picking out movies that everyone could watch. We didn’t have remotes, we were the remotes. The tv was controlled by a dial that we had to get up, walk to, and turn each channel, pausing between each turn while they decided on what they wanted to watch. And lord, don’t forget the shag carpet. You walked across that in socks and would reach out and touch that dial and full shock every time.
The 70s and 80s were a pretty good time. And I find myself missing that time period itself. Not so much my life, but everything that came out during that time. The music, the toys, the games, and the tv shows/cartoons.
Here I am, in 2023, raising this Gen Alpha. And let me tell you, these pandemic babies are intense. They are different breeds completely. And raising one who had such a traumatic start in life, well it’s been an experience. This is another thing I will be talking about here.
Well, I think this is enough to get me started. Hoping it kicks my creativity back into gear…with that, have a great night, and love each other.