Post Boomer Parents

January 29, 2009
Interview with Ron Taffel PhD, author of Childhood Unbound

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Mike Carruthers:
The children of Baby Boomers are now becoming the new generation of parents and for them parenting is very different.

Ron Taffel, PhD:
This Post-Boomer set of parents is the most likely and the most able to understand these kids today than any other parent/child dyad I've seen over the last many decades.
 

Ron Taffel, PhD

Dr. Ron Taffel, author of the book Childhood Unbound, says the big difference with these parents generally is…

They want rules but they don't want to have hierarchy; they basically feel there should be a good back-and-forth. There's the feeling that a family should be more of a team.

But in many of these families the pendulum has swung too far, Dr. Taffel says, many parents allow…

Too much back talk, too much negotiating for the kind of authority the kids really need and want. That's another thing that's different - kids actually want that kind of authority in their parents. They don't want to rebel against it, they really feel direction and rules as an act of love - the parents don't get that yet.

And Dr. Taffel says this isn't just his opinion - it's fact.

We now know from longitudinal research that kids of all ages need to have rules that are explicitly stated in order to feel held, in order to feel guided.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.