Generational Differences at Home

            Do you remember the last time you had an argument with your parents or even grandparents. Do you remember thinking to yourself, “they just don’t understand ME and society today.” This was constantly something I dealt with as a teenager while growing up with my parents. As a college student now, I feel more aware and have more acceptance of our different ideals and values. This blog post focuses on an aspect that most of us experience on a daily basis, generational differences at home especially one with cultural differences. The blog posts from my previous month has being emphasized greatly on how to deal with generational differences at the workplace. Today, I’ll outline the role of generational differences at home.

            Just to begin and give some personal reference and background information, I was born in China and came to America when I was about 8 years old. Because I spent most of my later childhood and adolescent years in America, I have a very Americanized personality as compared to my traditional Chinese parents. During high school, we constantly fought about different priorities and values. Turns out, this was actually very common in cultural groups with different generations. Stoller states at one point that “Norms based in one culture can be difficult to implement in another culture. Differences between the dominant culture and elements of the ethnic cultures can produce conflicts in generations.” (Stoller, 216)

            The previous blog posts deal with a similar topic about familial structures and generational differences pertaining especially for Asian Americans. I focused mainly on the conflicts that arise. For example, just to recap, many of the conflicts arise from different attitudes towards family obligations. Older generations have more traditional values from their origin of country. The younger generations are more influenced by American society, and thus have sometimes the opposite. (Fuligni et al, 1999) Today, I’ll emphasize more on the positive consequences. Stoller actually writes about how cultural differences within families can actually strengthen intergenerational relationships at home. This happens when the younger generations asks for guidance and better understanding of traditional cultural ethnics and beliefs. For example, many of the elderly generations enjoy teaching the children and teenagers the music, language, crafts and local history. This not only pass down traditional beliefs and values, it also helps improve elders’ emotions and confidence. They feel more involved in the family and closer with their grandchildren this way. They also feel like they still have an important role in the family. (Cool, 1980)

            After this blog post, I have more appreciation for the multicultural and multigenerational characteristics of my own family. Instead of focusing on negative conflicts that arise, this blog entry and the related readings really assisted me in understanding the bigger picture. Instead of having the attitude that diversity is bad and undesirable, I now realize that diversity is actually positive; it creates many of the rich mixed cultures we see today!

1. Stoller, E. P., & Gibson, R. C. (2000). World of difference inequality in the aging experience. (3 ed.,). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

2. Fuligni, A. J., Tseng, V. and Lam, M. (1999), Attitudes toward Family Obligations among American Adolescents with Asian, Latin American, and European Backgrounds. Child Development, 70: 1030–1044. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00075

3. Cool, L.E. (1980). Ethnicity and aging: Continuity through change for elderly Corsicans. In C. Fry (Ed.), Aging in culture and society. New York: Praeger