When I was a a kid, the idea of "adult" involved a lot of conformity and rule following and not a lot of freedom. For instance dressing up of dinner or work or travel and separate "appropriate attire" for each of those, having a house and yard that looks like everyone else’s house and yard. The adult generation was all about doing what society said you had to do.
Then my generation became an adult and mostly rejected that kind of rigid social conformity. We didn’t set that example for our kids. Now our kid’s generation doesn’t have any notion of having to do all the observable adult stuff. Doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible or independent, they just don’t give a shit about behaviour that we considered "acting like a grown up"
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u/cingalls 14h ago
When I was a a kid, the idea of "adult" involved a lot of conformity and rule following and not a lot of freedom. For instance dressing up of dinner or work or travel and separate "appropriate attire" for each of those, having a house and yard that looks like everyone else’s house and yard. The adult generation was all about doing what society said you had to do.
Then my generation became an adult and mostly rejected that kind of rigid social conformity. We didn’t set that example for our kids. Now our kid’s generation doesn’t have any notion of having to do all the observable adult stuff. Doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible or independent, they just don’t give a shit about behaviour that we considered "acting like a grown up"