Members of the civic-minded Millennial Generation, which include some of our kin, were born between 1982 and 2003; there will probably be members of this generation playing on the world's stage at least until about 2093.1 Their parents were either the last wave of the idealistic Boom Generation or the first wave of the reactive, nomadic Generation X, who nurtured them in a relaxing way.
The Millennium Generation grew up as grows up as increasingly protected youths after the Boom Consciousness Awakening was over and will come of age overcoming a secular crisis. Eventually they will unite into a heroic and achieving cadre of rising adults and sustain that image while building institutions as powerful midlifers. They will finally emerge as busy elders attacked by the next spiritual awakening. The Millennial Generation (of the Hero archtype in the Millennial Saeculum, or Cycle) first arrived when Baby on Board signs appeared. As abortion and divorce rates ebbed, the popular culture began stigmatizing the hands-off parental styles that had been in effect with the previous generation of children; babies were now recast as special. Child abuse and child safety became hot adult issues (from tax cuts to deficits) in terms of their effects on children. Hollywood began replacing cinematic child devils with child angels, and cable TV and the Internet cordoned off child-friendly havens. While educators spoke of standards and cooperative learning, school uniforms surged in popularity. With adults viewing children more positively, U.S. test scores fared better in international comparisons.2
Generations in the past whose peer personality closely resembled that of the Millennial Generation include:
Here is a table of contents for the Millennium Generation's lifecycle:
Birthyears for the Millennial Generation
(Linked names are ancestors of ours;
linked "G-" numbers refer to the family generations of those ancestors.)
See the next generation
See the previous generation