Gen Xers Are a Tough Bunch of Cookies

With almost 175k Subscribers on YouTube, The Real Slim Sherri is a YouTube streamer that is now on tour that has been named the “Gen X Takeover.” Sherri has taken the Gen X rhetoric to a new stage, a live stage as a comedian and has audiences rolling in the isles. I do wonder if she has a garden hose on stage or uses bottled water. Promo Photo | Robertson County News

I’m part of Generation X, and if you spend any time on social media, you know exactly what that means. Our greatest collective pastime seems to be posting videos bragging about how tough we had it as kids — all the stuff we survived — and how the generations that followed us wouldn’t have lasted five minutes in our world.

Since I’m one of them, let me be the first to apologize (well, sort of — Gen Xers don’t really apologize) for the endless stream of videos and the horse pucky my peers post daily.

Here’s the thing: the generations that followed us are our kids and now our grandkids. So, if your children aren’t drinking from the garden hose or riding bikes until dark, that’s on you — not the PlayStation or the cell phone you keep blaming.

We love to talk about how “alone” we were as kids. How our parents kicked us out of the house with orders like “Go outside and play,” “Don’t come back until the streetlights come on,” or my personal favorite, “Get out of my sight.”

But the truth is, our parents worked — both of them. For many Baby Boomers, it took two incomes just to keep up with the inflation of the 1970s and ’80s. One working parent wasn’t enough anymore. My parents both had good jobs with Motorola, but to give me a better life, they each drove 75 minutes one way to work and 75 minutes home — every single day. They did it so I could grow up in the country, where if someone dared to put up a streetlight, a neighbor would shoot it out within hours.

Was it tough being a latchkey kid? Not really. I learned to take care of myself early on. My parents took care of me by providing everything I needed, and in return, I was expected to hold up my end of the deal — be responsible, do my chores, stay out of trouble. It was a partnership, plain and simple.

Online, you’d think Gen X was the most hardened, world-weary bunch on Earth. We act like we’re exhausted and ready to hand over the reins with a sigh of disappointment. But didn’t our grandparents feel the same way about our parents? Didn’t their parents roll their eyes at them? Maybe that’s just human nature. Maybe we’re never really satisfied.

Still, there’s more to life than complaining. You have to want it, earn it, and work for it. Set goals, meet goals, and pass that mindset down to your kids. Hoping for the best isn’t a parenting strategy. Teaching, guiding, and showing love through hard work — that’s how we build better generations.

So, fellow Gen Xers, how did we do? Did we raise good humans while drinking from the garden hose? Technology isn’t to blame for how our kids turned out — we are. And if you’re not happy with the job you did, it’s never too late to sit down and make things right.

My parents taught me to work hard, to love my family, and to show that love by providing for them. They taught me to filter out the nonsense and not fall for every line of BS life throws at you.

Yes, we had an “interesting” upbringing — but we also had the best music, so that should count for something. So quit whining about how tough we had it or how little we care. I’m not burned out. Maybe a little tired — I am 56 — but I still care about plenty: my family, my community, and you, my readers.

Go have a great week. And next time you see one of those Gen X videos, just smile. Those water-hose-drinking souls turned out just fine.