Spoiled Rotten (By Us)

Following up Friday's talk about Slacker and Alpha parents, let's take a peek into what our kids might be like in the future through ABC News'
Meet the New Millennials. "Millennials" are Americans born after 1981, the invisible tipping point where it suddenly became de rigeur for parents to micromanage our children's lives with flashcards, Baby Einstein videos, playdates, violin lessons, sports therapists, and tutors for every kind of special need, real or imagined. Now these "kids" have entered the workplace, with interesting results.

"They grew up with an 'everyone gets a trophy' sense of entitlement," one 57-year-old employer says of his 20-something Millennial employees. "They are members of a generation that thinks it should get a trophy just for waking up in the morning."

Typical problems include arriving to work on time, working towards long-term goals, dressing appropriately (the same employer had to tell a young female employee that his was not an "underwear optional" workplace), and loyalty to employers. It's also apparently hard for employers to keep parents at bay, despite the reality that their children are now adults. "I had a human resources manager call me about a worker who received her performance review [followed by] her mother calling up to complain that 'she's better than that,' " the employer relayed.

Part of the problem -- and maybe the solution -- is that for the first time in history, four generations of Americans are working together. ABC News quotes a study prepared by Manpower, one of the nation's largest employment services companies, that breaks out the four generations as follows:

* Traditionalists -- Born before 1946. Respect authority, avoid challenging the system, place duty before pleasure.
* Boomers -- Born between 1946 and 1964. Values: work, material payoffs, personal empowerment.
* Generation X - Born from 1965 to 1980. Work to live, cynical, skeptical, value flexibility and work/life balance.
* Millennials -- Born between 1981 and 1994. Question everything, live in the moment, very family-oriented.

So what's your experience at work -- and as a parent -- as a Millennial, Boomer, X-er or Traditionalist? What kind of generation are we raising? How can such diverse generations become one big, happy family?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  May 21, 2007; 7:30 AM ET  | Category:  Raising Great Kids
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