The boomer generation wasn't raised by permissive parents - they were raised by exhausted ones, and what looked like freedom was mostly just the absence of supervision, which produced independence and loneliness in equal measure - Silicon Canals

"Most Silent Generation parents were just trying to survive. Their stories made history feel like something that happened to real people, not just textbook stuff. By the time they had kids, they were running on empty."

"When your father works double shifts at the factory and your mother is managing a household without modern conveniences, who's watching the kids? Nobody. And that absence got repackaged as independence."

"Long summer days with no adults in sight. Walking to school alone at age six. Playing in construction sites and abandoned buildings. If you described this childhood today, someone would call social services."

Baby Boomers were often perceived as having permissive parents, but this view overlooks the historical context of their upbringing. Their parents, part of the Silent Generation, faced significant challenges such as war and economic hardship, which left them exhausted and unable to provide constant supervision. This lack of oversight was misinterpreted as freedom, leading to a generation that struggles with connection and solitude. The reality of their childhood involved significant independence, often without adult supervision, which contrasts sharply with modern parenting standards.

Read at Silicon Canals