Trendy vs Traditional

The ‘unceasing conflict’ between parents and their offspring can be at times most challenging  to explain. And the so-called generation-gap may be the widest gulf, which even the greatest builder would  find difficult to fill.

These two generations are like the lines of a railway track— never to meet. Youths go on in their ‘mod’ way and parents continue in their traditional way. Both the generations lead life according to their wish. Youths wants to grab the whole world in their fists, while their matured elders call it foolishness to run after a mirage. The two are at logger-heads always.

Parents complain that children are growing more and more intolerant; they do not behave properly with them. On the other hand, youth complains that their parents try to force their traditional decisions on them.  ‘Holding a good number of degrees is not the criteria of a successful person’, as the youth puts it. They prefer technical and practical knowledge to bookish theories.

Stereotyped careers like medicine, engineering, lectureship are being shunned by the youth. Setting in new trends, they are opting for creative, innovative and more professional types of jobs that are not only lucrative, but also glamorous in their own way.

Management, advertising, media, fashion-designing, etc. are some of the new vistas opening up in the new era.

Independence is something that the teens today yearn for. They want to be independent, earn money to support their parents and of course, to fulfill their own small and big desires.

Hiding petty matters has become a routine for the youth and they do not feel guilty about it at all. They say that they are not humbugs, as their little lies do not affect their parents’ reputation in any way. In case of girls, the problem is a little more complicated. 

Most parents are of the view that daughters should not be given higher education, as it may prove hazardous in finding a suitable match later. Although, some parents allow their daughters to go in for medical science, engineering, fashion-designing, computing, etc. they do not agree to off-beat jobs, which according to them are under the dominance of their sons only.

What a pity! Even though parents are aware of the fact that girls have shown their prowess in practically every field possible in this world.

Whether daughters or sons, both have some problem or the other with their parents. And all this because of the wide generation gap. Only a few children are lucky enough to be understood fully by their parents.

It is to wonder, why this generation-gap has emerged even in this present century, when both the generations are in a way quite intellectual and educated?