I have only one question. I've seen a couple of references to the generations becoming shorter. If the average life span is getting longer, and the time spent in childhood is clearly longer, how can the generations get shorter?

I'm curious as to how this change in lifespan will affect the relationships between the generations. For example, it seems obvious that your relationship with your kids will be quite different if you are in adjacent groups rather than two apart. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Example: My parents are just at the end of "silent", and I fit in the beginning of X. They were back-to-the-landers who were disgusted with the 60's protests and social disintegration and raised me in a loosy-goosy hippie community. I have been politically active with anti-nuke and environmental causes in my youth,I am an effective community organizer, yet rather floundering persoanlly in my twenties, finally found my love and had kids at 35-40. So I am a parent of one 2003 (Millennial?) and one 2007 (Homelander?) What are we, cuspers?
I read your article in Renewal, yes I am a Waldorf parent and have played a bit with the idea of getting involved politically in the school but I am held back by what I perceive as Waldorf fundamentalism and my perceived need for the ideals and curriculum of Waldorf to adapt to a rapidly changing world. All these qualities are decidedly "X" qualities, but I don't see myself coddling my Millennial kids.

There are so many factors that add into your analysis. It is very attractive and possibly useful, but what about the vagaries of circumstance, not the least of which is culture and race, or as in my case, being born of cuspers Silents and raising cusper Millens? I don't necessarily agree with the rebellion dynamic between generations.

All for now – very pithy stuff, this. Interesting.

Well, you post so many things on the facebook thing that I finally ended up looking at your
GenX website and at this little video. I confirm that you’re not an “artist” archetype person: I
can tell that there is no ideal in the way you painted the little papers you used on the video…
the only importance was efficiency and clarity. Well, after all that can be an ideal by itself isn’t it ?
Anyway, I have many questions about this topic but I guess I should first read carefully your website.
Hope you’re doing all right in California, and keep juggling !
Hope to see you again next fall.

Martin

Thanks! I really like your website. I think that Strauss and Howe’s ideas are really powerful and I agree that visuals help get the information across more clearly.

Thanks,

Dave

If their theories predict so much, then, they are extremely relevant. I struggled with their theories until I transformed them into visuals. You’ve taken it to the next level and put it in a video. Perfect.

Take care,
Jim Goulding

Great to hear from you. There are confounding factors for the generational research, but it definitely does cross between ethnic lines in the United States. Thanks for giving me an idea for a future post!

I hope you are doing well down under. Let me know if you are up this way in the future!

Dave