Generation Snowflake

A snowflake is a self-absorbed, entitled, overly emotional individual.

Whose to blame?

Children born after 1980 received a consistent message from adults: life is dangerous.

Adults/Parents will do everything in their power to protect you from harm, not just from strangers.

They describe how their childhood itself has changed greatly during the past generation.

Many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers can remember riding their bicycles around their hometowns, unchaperoned by adults, by the time they were 8 or 9 years old.

In the hours after school, kids were expected to occupy themselves, getting into minor scrapes and learning from their experiences.

This was the norm.

When the 21st Century arrived, a thin-skinned society began forming.

A safety-first agenda has been driven by transferring adult’s fearful obsessions onto children’s lived experiences.

Today’s health & safety mania has helped create a new type of young person.

Kids are denied to play outdoors, climbing trees, going bike riding with friends etc..

With all these eliminations, a greater sense of timidity has developed.

Children were warned that the world outside the home is a scary place.

Parents are going to such ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children, this hyper-concern is having the net effect of making kids more fragile.

Is it any wonder then that kids grow up scared of their own shadow when society is so jumpy?

Kids today aren’t drinking, drugging, fornicating as much as prior generations did.

Instead, they are self-harming, succumbing to depression, developing eating disorders and persecuting each other online.

Most kids today have high anxiety.

Many adults discuss their concerns, which in turn rubs off onto their children.

This can affect on how they respond to any difficulties they face.

When children as young as 6 report that they are stressed or suffering from anxiety, and talk about their well-being, did they learn this vocabulary on the playground?

I also feel that Snowflakes were created by our wider society, our media and by people who had influence over their generation.

Our teachers, educators, and anyone in the generations above, who acted to swing society to the opposite way from the way they grew up.

This shouldn’t be.

It’s no wonder that when these children grow up, they struggle to show commitment and a strong work ethic when they hit the workforce.

They’ve been fed the idea that they are talented and worthy of greatness.

When you have goals and a purpose more important than the little interactions you have on the streets or in meaningless spaces, you are less likely to be affected by them.

The hard work and drive you put toward your goals, will allow you to focus on things that energize you. It will also help you to let things go that aren’t worth it.

Not only will this build character and deepen your purpose, but it will also help you to work towards solid goals and develop skills that will translate into greater achievements.

Work on yourself so that you can like yourself.

At the end of the day, not everyone will like you or think like you.

You need to like you, for others to see and respect you.

Honestly, it’s no-one’s job to cater for your feelings, just like it isn’t your job to cater for theirs.

The sooner we can all accept that, the less of a snowflake you will be.