Bringing up the Gen Z's

"Put it on Facebook" my 7-year-old pleads after taking a dog filtered selfie of us both looking lovingly into a void. "Take a video of me" he begs as he shows off his dance moves he learnt from a online game that takes you into a community where you can choose your own persona, die multiple times and learn dance moves to put on social media for the world to judge. Apart from he doesn't because he's too young. But he will have a social media presence at some point. It's a necessity for the gen z's to have one in this new world. Most of them where born with it. While us millennials who are bringing up these children, for some, social media was introduced to us after we already had our opinions on the world, we already had our routines set without it. It was a fun novelty that allowed us to share stupid anecdotes of our day and share the odd picture or two of a terrible night out. We didn't even think it would last. (Probably because we went through so many fads that died growing up). You needed a good laptop and decent internet speed to make the most of it though.

As we grew, along with our political and social opinions, and as we were exposed to more of the world than our predecessors, (the gen x), social media became a grounds for expression, either ourselves or our views, and the applications adapted. We set it all up, we made it a tool, ready for the next generation to get their accounts. This is how the world is for the gen z's and this is how it's always been for them. So, let's not be too harsh. Our grandparents would tell our parents that too much T.V would rot their brains, and now look, TV became an important tool for consumerism, communication and learning and we would be cut off without it, just like the gen z's will be without their tablets and social media accounts. Phones might as well be on the Maslows Hierarchy of needs.

Kids my sons age don't really watch TV anymore, TV in the traditional sense is losing its significance. They would much rather choose their down time entertainment from a variety of sources that fit their personality or mood at the time. Which actually makes them much more self-aware then we were at that age. Of course, there does need to be a balance and we as millennial parents must make sure our youngsters are still exposed to the world, nature, how stuff grows, how the natural world works and why it's important. You know, for health of mind. And talking to your kids about what they are learning every day is so important. I don't mean at school, they do enough of that at school. I mean their thoughts and feelings of everything around them. The world is so much more complicated than it used to be and we need to help this generation make sense of it all. We need to help them find the words.

The Gen Z's will have strong opinions on certain subjects from a young age, take Greta Thunburg for example; 16 years old and causing a ruckus in the political world leading huge global protests on climate change. This would have stemmed from all the shouting about it on social media by the millennials. And the kids breaking out of school 'to fight for climate justice' would have caught wind of this through social media and made the decision to act. We shout a lot, us millennials, but we don't do a great deal of 'doing'. That's where the gen z's will step in. They will realise from what they read from all our posts about this and that, which remember, all started as a bit of harmless fun, that action must be taken to make change. And we need to stand to one side and let them. They are shaping their world in a way that millennials, gen x's and baby boomers never could. They have access to a monumental amount of information in seconds, less then seconds, immediate access to information, which sparks opinions and then actions. They are a force that we have never seen the likes of before.

One thing for sure though, adaptations to our mental health coping mechanisms need to be in place. It's no longer as black and white as being depressed or stressed from trauma. The symptoms are coming from different sources. Social pressures, financial difficulties, political scare mongering, body shaming and generally trying to keep up with the pace of everyday life while being told 'we must fit in more self-care'. "Where?!?" They demand to know. We've got to keep these kids talking. We can't control the new age and the evolution of technology, that is still evolving. But we can use the social skills we had before social media and pass it on to our children. Talking to each other. Even if it's just at the dinner table or on the route to school drop off. Talk, and ask questions and don't be too quick to judge. The world is a very different place to when the millennial's where 7.

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