My Kids Just Don’t Get It
There are a lot of things about Generation Z that I love, and there is just as much that I don’t get. I have yet to let Snapchat in my life, TikTok seems really time-consuming, and video chats don’t get me excited. However, there are also things that these z-ers don’t appreciate that I love. Can any other Gen X-ers relate?
No Doubt Gwen Stefani
Look, I know she doesn’t have the pipes of Kelly Clarkson or P!nk. I get that the music from No Doubt doesn’t speak to everyone, but Gwen Stefani was our actual queen in the 90s. She led an all-boy band with attitude and Moxy. There wasn’t a girl in my friend group who didn’t scream “I’m Just a Girl” or “Don’t Speak” from the top of her lungs while we drove around in our hand me down cars on dirt roads. There isn’t one of us who even knows what walking in the “Spiderwebs” meant, but we were there for our girl, belting that song and pretending it was artistic freedom.
So when I rock out now in my actual mini-van, sometimes at a red light, I close my eyes for the long notes of No Doubt, and I’m back in my high school car. I go back to a time when MTV played music videos like I just got my license because my girl Gwen gave me permission to celebrate all that is female. Oh, and I’m still hoping she and her bandmate get back together (no offense to Miranda Lambert’s ex). My judgey passengers may not like her voice or understand the nostalgia, but I look at it as a lesson in loyalty. I got you–pre Blake Shelton Gwen–I’m just a girl, too.
The Radio
Another labor of love that seems to be lost on my children is the hunt for the perfect song on the AM/FM radio. Kids nowadays have any song they want available for listening pleasure at any time they’d like. There is no appreciation for the hunt. What’s not to love about finding a favorite tune coming across the airwaves? There’s the surprise when it comes on that’s utter satisfaction, and I even respect the let down when I catch the last few notes of my favorite song. Just like the obstacles in life, I dust myself off and live to search again.
It’s one of the most basic pieces of human connection. When my fave tune comes on the radio, it’s like I have just connected with another person in the world who also appreciates having the perfect song at that moment. It’s good for us to hunt and gather. To want and not get. To search and find. Yes, babies. I do love listening to my favorite lyrics when I want them, but there is nothing like the surprise of it being on an actual radio station. Generation Z may never have to call and request music, but maybe one day they’ll try it, and hear someone acknowledge their request. That is validation in the purest form.
My Puns
I know they are referred to as “dad” jokes, and I probably DID get my love of puns from my father, but my children do not appreciate my pun-ny humor. They find it “pun”ishing, if you will. Jokes that have me doubled over in laughter have my children groaning and shaking their heads. No longer do they feel the pressure of making me feel good and giving me a sympathy laugh. Jokes like, “What’s brown and sticky?” (a stick) are completely lost on them. Off-color riddles like, “What’s red and hurts your teeth?” (a brick) are wasted on my babies with no sense of humor. Grammatical jokes like, “Stop clubbing, baby seals.” fall on deaf ears. It’s like these humorless youngsters aren’t even mine. Although I feel like they’ll eventually come around, and that their sophisticated humor just needs to evolve, for now, I’ll be throwing out these punch lines waiting for them to land and laughing to myself. (See what I did there? PUNCH lines? LAND?)
My kids are a part of Generation Z and we are on the same page about a lot of things, but these are three areas where we just cannot align. What about you? What do you love that is lost on your kids?