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My dad served in WWII and I was born in 1969. I agree with the bolded, and also agree that having older brothers and sisters was a different experience (than not having older siblings) but I really don't have much in common with the "true" (early) Boomers. Family life is only part of it. Society and culture was very, very different in the 1950s when the Boomers were children than it was in the 1970s when I was growing up.
One very noticeable factor was that the late 1940s/50s Boomers grew up with lots and lots of kids their age. Their generation was so significant because it was so huge. By the time I was born in almost 1970, the birth rate was getting pretty low. GenX is a much smaller group overall. There were hardly any kids in my neighborhood, and my school district closed two schools while I was in the elementary years because there weren't enough kids to fill them.
Hahaha, saw this after I made my last post. As I mentioned, baby brother was also born in 1969. Dad turned 48 six days later.
Hahaha, saw this after I made my last post. As I mentioned, baby brother was also born in 1969. Dad turned 48 six days later.
Your family is really similar to mine, with the same number of kids and similar birth years. My dad turned 45 the month after I was born. He got in at the tail end of WWII and was never deployed overseas. It frustrated him that he did not have experiences to talk about like his five-years-older brother, who was all over the South Pacific and earned a bunch of awards. In the long run, it’s probably better not to have gone through that, but it was a big deal for that generation.
My dad served in WWII and I was born in 1969. I agree with the bolded, and also agree that having older brothers and sisters was a different experience (than not having older siblings) but I really don't have much in common with the "true" (early) Boomers. Family life is only part of it. Society and culture was very, very different in the 1950s when the Boomers were children than it was in the 1970s when I was growing up.
One very noticeable factor was that the late 1940s/50s Boomers grew up with lots and lots of kids their age. Their generation was so significant because it was so huge. By the time I was born in almost 1970, the birth rate was getting pretty low. GenX is a much smaller group overall. There were hardly any kids in my neighborhood, and my school district closed two schools while I was in the elementary years because there weren't enough kids to fill them.
As an early Boomer, I was 21 and in college when you were born. You could have been my kid. Technically you are Gen-X but I'm sure early Boomers were having kids who were late Boomers. I think the Jones generation ought to be recognized as separate from the Boomers. Births started to decline after 1957. The Joneses had a had a different experience.
As early Boomers, we were a swarming pack of kids. Schools were not ready for the influx of so many kids and the system was overtaxed with 40 kids in a classroom, split sessions, and makeshift room additions. We all knew some kid with polio. We lined up to get the vaccine. We did the same for TB tests. We all knew whose mom was the cafeteria lady and she knew us. We had an on-site school nurse who paid attention when someone was sick. We had music and art teachers. We all were part of something -- Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, whatever. My dad survived the Battle of the Bulge and the drive toward Berlin to be a manager of a Little League team and a Boy Scout leader -- he loved it. We actually had and knew our neighbors and they knew us. We all did things in groups. Nobody was labeled with attention deficit disorder. We would be gone all day. We would camp out in the back yard (sleeping, supposedly). There was strength in numbers, and we got away with a lot of stuff that later kids were kept from doing. Nobody got hurt or fell through the ice or disappeared.
Maybe later kids were kept on short leashes because their Boomer parents knew what was up. It has gone so far now that kids don't seem to want to associate or be part of a group and seem almost solitary and confined by social rules and fearful parents. I mentioned this to my daughter who reminded me that she was in school when the Columbine school shooting took place and the rest of her years in school were punctuated by active shooter drills and repeated reports of school shootings. Kids felt safer out of school and not in large groups.
These things are getting pretty confusing. I'm a boomer but my mother's maiden name was Jones. She'd be thrilled to know that generation of people were named after her.
I read a study recently about the tail end of the boomers - those born after 1960; their financial balance sheets are distinctly different from older boomers when adjusted for age, and not in a good way.
The first half of the boomers were hogging all the good jobs. We also had a different sequence of events because I graduated high school into the 1980 / 81 recession. It was almost like being a Millennial (except without the basement and keeping the first job for eternity). I know there are very successful Millennials and that is a stereotype...
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I agree with the bolded, and also agree that having older brothers and sisters was a different experience (than not having older siblings) but I really don't have much in common with the "true" (early) Boomers. Family life is only part of it. Society and culture was very, very different in the 1950s when the Boomers were children than it was in the 1970s when I was growing up. 
