The generation is a unique group of people who range between the ages of 47-65, which means they were born between 1946-1964. This generation was born right after World War II and although they didn't experience the actual war, they were raised by parents who had experienced a great deal of lack. I believe this experience with lack turned the baby boomer generation into prospective hoarders. Not necessarily to the extreme hoarders like we see on television, but hoarding in the sense that they keep everything just in case of a rainy day.
Over the weekend, I visited my mom at her home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This home is where my grandmother, also known as G-Ma, lived and after she passed away four years ago, my mom moved into her house.
Since my mom owned her own house when G-Ma passed away, she decided to sell it and move into G-Ma's house. And that's when the early stages of hoarding began. She had both her furniture and G-Ma's furniture in the same home.
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My grandmother saved everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. She had Ebony magazines from the 1950s, newspapers from when Kennedy was shot, and several broken appliances, clothes from deceased relatives and artifacts. These items should have been in a museum. So when my mom moved in there was already a ton of things that needed to be given away. But since my mom was raised with the mindset of keeping things just in case, she kept a great deal of those items which added to the caos.
While I was there I explained to my mom that there is entirely too much stuff that she doesn't need and that it would be beneficial to purge out the old items. I could tell as we worked that she was hesitant to get rid of pictures of strangers and that extra iron which didn't work. We decided to work on one room of the house and found several items that could be . This just goes to show how influential our parents are in our lives.
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Even though my mom was born after World War II, her parents raised them to save and preserve things because you never know. I wonder what my generation will influence upon our children? If anything, I'm sure those of us born in the 70s and early 80s will instill a level of appreciation and safety into our children. My generation went from feeling on top of the world to realizing that safety is a privilege and that a degree does not automatically result in employment.
Every child is influenced by their parents, but that influence comes from each parent's own personal experience with life. What will you influence today?
