Baby Boomers: First Generation To Take Care Of Parents Longer Than Parents Took Care Of Them
Over 78 million Americans were born between the mid-1940s and mid-1960s, the years that have come to define the demographic anomaly known as the Baby Boom, the most fertile period in U.S. history. Postwar prosperity had much to do with it, as did establishment in the future and an orientation of reproduction that pushed women out of the wartime workforce and into motherhood.
It was the largest generation ever, bookkeeping for about a third of the U.S. population by the 1980s. And Baby Boomers prefabricated their presence felt: 15 million homes built in the 1950s; 50,000 classrooms created in 1952 alone; 1.5 billion cans of baby food sold in 1953. As empty nesters, Boomers have more money to spend as the median income for Boomers bracket is ,300 annually. The number of couples without kids between the age of 45 and 60 will increase from 8 million in 1980 to 16 millions in the year 2010. This was the first generation to live with a fear of no tomorrow, with the knowledge that the entire world could be annihilated by The Bomb. A possibility reinforced each time they had to crouch under their desks at school or in bomb shelters at home.
However, in Canada, the Baby Boom is usually defined as the generation born from 1947 to mid-1960s. Canadian service organisation were repatriated later than the Americans, and Canada’s birth rate did not begin to rise until 1947.
Baby boomers are the largest single age group in Canada, at 7 million (31%), according to Statistics Canada. Within the next 10 years, 2.6 million of them will be 50 to 60 years old. In North America, each 7.5 seconds, a Boomer turns 50!
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF Boomers AT WORK
Attitudes
Busy “sandwich” generation taking care of parents & kids Team oriented Idealistic Health and wellness is high priority Human rights activists (they were the ”hippies”) Highly educated and affluent Competitive Success = money, title, recognition Anti rules & regulations
Contributions
Service oriented Comfortable with long-term employment Willing to “go the extra mile” Good at relationships & communication Cool-headed during a crisis
Cautions
Not naturally frugal Coasting into retirement Like high level of process Accustomed to feedback once per year, whether you need it or not Will vigorously protect Power & Turf
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT Baby Boomers:
Media Myth: They are on their way out. Reality: Average life expectancy for today’s woman is 78.8 years; for men, 72. Boomers will have longer, healthier work lives than any previous generation.
Media Myth: They’ll have to grow up. Reality: Sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles doubled in the primeval 1990s; majority of buyers were Boomers.
Media Myth: They’ve always had it easy; they’re assured of a comfortable retirement. Reality: Of all generations, Boomers have the largest credit card debt. They have an average of 20 years remaining on their mortgages.
Media Myth: They have quit learning. Reality: Enrollment by Boomers in adult education programs, everything from tap diversion to elementary economics, is up significantly.
Media Myth: They’re all workaholics. Reality: Having worked grueling hours for the past thirty years; now 80% concur their private life is more important than work.
SOME RESULTS OF COLLISIONS BETWEEN Baby Boomers AND OTHER GENERATIONAL GROUPS
when a Senior (mid 1920s to mid-1940s) collides, they think …
Stop speaking about individualized things that should be kept private. Me, me, me. Another divorce ??!!
when a GenX (mid-1060s to late 1970s) collides, they think …
Are you crazy – business meetings after 5:00? Moralistic and hypocritical. Always doing office politics.
when a GenY (1980s to 2000) collides, they think …
Work way too much. Lighten up. Stop hovering!
We are all individuals. There are countless ways we differ in background, personality, values, preferences, and style. To make judgments about these differences (i.e., who is better), is illogical and meaningless. However, exploring generational diversity can help explain – and bridge – the sometimes-baffling differences behind our unspoken assumptions and at-odds attitudes.
Caution: Be careful to refrain reinforcing negative stereotypes. Generational differences are a start, not an end to understanding.
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