It might not surprise you, parents, that your Gen Z child finds you annoying as hell.
“Yeah, yeah. That’s inevitable as a parent!” we hear you cry.
But… what if it doesn’t have to be?
What if we told you that vibing with your Gen Z children could be easier than you think?
We’ve asked thousands of Gen Zs about what’s important to them (and how to make them happy) and have a few pretty simple suggestions on how you can lose the cringe factor with Gen Zs.
- Be sustainable
For the love of the environment (and your Gen Z child), put. The Plastic. Down.
Eighty-two percent of Gen Zs avoid plastic packaging like the plague, according to our Gen Z & Corporate Activism report – which means your excess plastic consumption is cheugy af.
“Why would you want to buy something that is going to be sitting in landfill or our oceans harming innocent animals?” a 20-year-old male from Queensland said.
“This is a problem that should have been fixed years ago. (We) need to put the environment first!”
Opt for sustainable packaging instead, and you’ll score some serious brownie points.
“Bamboo is sustainable and fairly cheap so instead of plastic, bamboo, paper and cardboard could be used, including water-soluble packaging for certain products,” a 16-year-old female from NSW said.
Add in some solar panels on the roof and sustainable reusable kitchen products and your Gen Z will be seriously impressed.
- Talk more openly about mental health
Gen Z? More like Generation Self-Aware.
While you might not have thought or spoken about mental health much as a teen, Gen Zs are all about mental wellbeing and chances are, your ‘playing mum’ with your feelings and emotions is probably driving your Gen Z child nuts (puns intended).
So ditch the ‘crazy’ cringe factor, and start talking more openly about your and your children’s mental health.
- Quit pressuring them about post-school pathways
Come on mum/dad. Don’t you remember how much you hated it when you were pestered about what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Well, kids today hate it just as much – and they need you to stop.
The truth is though parents are incredibly important to their child’s school-to-work transition. Over the years our research has consistently found parents are young people’s most influential source of career advice.
The only issue is when parents force their child to do something they don’t want to do, instead of helping guide them to that decision and letting them make their own mistakes.
It’s time we realise how unreasonable it is to expect teens to have a life plan before they’re able to cast a vote and that not only are there no default paths to success, but sometimes the paths least travelled often lead to the most unreal success stories.
So let’s give our Gen Z kids a break, and support them in finding their calling in their own time.
Now that’s what we call understanding the assignment.
- Talk more openly about mental health
Gen Z? More like Generation Self-Aware.
While you might not have thought or spoken about mental health much as a teen, Gen Zs are all about mental wellbeing and chances are, your ‘playing mum’ with your feelings and emotions is probably driving your Gen Z child nuts (puns intended).
So ditch the ‘crazy’ cringe factor, and start talking more openly about your and your children’s mental health.
- Quit pressuring them about post-school pathways
Come on mum/dad. Don’t you remember how much you hated it when you were pestered about what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Well, kids today hate it just as much – and they need you to stop.
The truth is though parents are incredibly important to their child’s school-to-work transition. Over the years our research has consistently found parents are young people’s most influential source of career advice.
The only issue is when parents force their child to do something they don’t want to do, instead of helping guide them to that decision and letting them make their own mistakes.
It’s time we realise how unreasonable it is to expect teens to have a life plan before they’re able to cast a vote and that not only are there no default paths to success, but sometimes the paths least travelled often lead to the most unreal success stories.
So let’s give our Gen Z kids a break, and support them in finding their calling in their own time.
Now that’s what we call understanding the assignment.
