Rethinking mom some more:

Part 3 of the luckie rethinking mom series

OCTober 2009
BY: david stutts, VP / director of brand planning

Over the past couple of years, we at Luckie & Company have written
several articles about “ReThinking Mom.” The first time around, we talked
about how the Gen Xer Domestic Goddess Mom has eclipsed the Boomer
Soccer Mom. Then we looked at the coming wave that will be the Mommy
Tsunami, a massive cultural shift just now getting underway as Gen Y women
reach motherhood age en masse.

In this article, we’ll be looking at the intersection of these two generations,

why their approaches to motherhood are so distinct, and what impact the
current economic downturn might have on Gen Y motherhood.

Depending on what source is used, Gen Y’s birth years are generally
defined as 1978–1998, while Xers were born 1965–1977 and Boomers
1946–1964.

Maria Bailey of BSM Media did some research a few years back that found Gen Y females planned to start having
families earlier in life – and wanted bigger families. That shift would reverse a trend that’s several decades
old, thanks to Boomers and Gen Xers who put off having children and often opted for smaller families than
previous generations.

First we’ll look at why Gen Xers waited to an older age than any generation before to approach the family-raising
portion of their life cycle, and then we’ll explore why we think Gen Y is reversing that trend and what they will do
during the current recession in regard to their own family aspirations.

Many have written about how Gen Xers were “latchkey kids,” the product of a nearly 50 percent divorce rate
and dual-income parents who put in long workweeks. Gen X was the first generation to actively witness women
(their mothers) in the workforce, fiercely competing for a spot in the corporate hierarchy.

In their youth, Xers were often labeled as cynical, lazy and indifferent, but as young adults and thirty-somethings,
reality showed them to be driven, independent and resilient. While the perception was that Xers were doing
nothing, they were actually busy watching, learning and formulating how not to repeat the work/lifestyle choices
their parents had made.
Xers saw firsthand how the dual stresses of two-income households coupled with raising children could wreck
a family, and they wanted none of it. Many waited until they were older, more established in their careers
and had grown out of the immaturity of youth to get married and start raising families. They demanded an
acceptable balance between work and family, shunning long workweeks (and the material possessions that
came with it) for quality time with their spouses and kids.

A line from the 1994 movie Reality Bites does a good job of summing up Gen X’s attitude toward the relentless
career pursuit they saw their parents follow:

“And they wonder why those of us in our 20s refuse to work an 80-hour week
just so we can afford to buy their BMWs. Why we aren’t interested in the counter-
culture that they invented as if we did not see them disembowel their revolution
for a pair of running shoes.”

Those in Gen Y have been raised since birth to be successful. They have had very organized and planned
childhoods (some might say micromanaged). They’ve been raised in the “village” approach with parents,
grandparents, teachers, coaches, ministers, etc., all helping prepare and shape them to be successful –
and they’ve often been told they will be successful at anything they do. Some have said their confidence is
on steroids. The leading edge of Gen Y came of age in the prosperous 1990s, and they have had a greater
opportunity than any previous generation to attend college.

Gen Y is the largest generation. They’re going to have a lot of children regardless of the current economic situation
or any economic situations that may follow. Maybe some will delay a few years to make sure they are stable
in their careers, but we would bet they’ll still start younger than their Gen X counterparts. Gen X was so jaded
by the high divorce rate with their own parents that many put off starting families until they were sure they had
the right partner.

Gen Y, on the other hand, has been raised through a very solid relationship with their parents (married or not),
with more friends and buddies than kids in many cases. This has given them a better feeling about family
and the desire to start their own families. Also, Gen Y is going to be the most educated generation (in terms
of attending/graduating college), so they will have better-paying jobs and be more financially stable at an earlier
age than Gen X – hence better able to support a family at a younger age.
Some have written that Gen Y exhibits many of the same behavioral/attitudinal characteristics of the Greatest
Generation (the WWII generation raised during the depression of the 1920s) – who were generally raised in large
families. So logic would hold that that bigger families will also be an element of the Gen Y life cycle.

Based on their upbringing and opportunities, those in Gen Y have no reason to doubt their ability to get married,
start a family and be successful in their careers, all in a life-stage time frame before Boomers and Xers likely
moved out of their first apartments. While a few will surely fail, we believe a strong majority will be successful and
probably not even realize how well they have done.

Having children is not like buying a car or a house. It doesn’t feel like a decision that would be put off for a few
years based on the current economic conditions. Once the decision has been made to have children, couples
do so and figure out how to make their finances work. If someone can’t afford a house or car, they sell them and
move on – no harm, no foul. Kids are a lifetime commitment that parents make regardless of their finances.

Recent statistics show that Gen Y, whose oldest members are entering their 30s, has already given birth to more
than 13 million babies. The current economic downturn may slow down the parenting aspirations for some, but
given the sheer size of this generation (nearly 80 million) they will be a parenting force to be reckoned with for the
next 2–3 decades.

As time unfolds, Gen Y will single-handedly produce the next baby boom and likely reshape how parenting is
done. Marketers better pay attention, learn and adapt as quickly as they can, or risk being washed away by the
approaching Gen Y Mommy Tsunami.

To read more reports on generational news, visit Luckie.com,

contact David directly at david.stutts@luckie.com or follow
him on Twitter @stutts.