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Get off my lawn!
ruyi:
--- Quote from: jhocking on 09 Mar 2008, 10:46 ---What do you think are important signifiers of age level?
--- End quote ---
This is something I've thought about a lot while growing up so that I could act older than I actually was at any given time. Admittedly my focus has been on age rather than generation, which seems to be the real question you're implying.
I find that some generational signifiers are cultural. For example, when talking about music with my aunt on my mother's side, she's made the remark that music is more important for me right now than for her because she's grown up. I'm sure my mother shares the same sentiments.
On the other hand, my dad is still always looking for new music, and he's nearly a generation older than they are.
I honestly don't know why that is because I know being Chinese doesn't stop you from being focused about the music one listens to. Perhaps the Cultural Revolution stifled such tendencies.
It's hard to generalize about age level signifiers because obviously individuals mature at different rates and thus need to be judged by different standards. Ultimately I think it comes down to subtle differences in behavior and humor. It demonstrates the amount of control you have over your actions and your awareness of others. Obviously there are exceptions to these stereotypes but younger people are more excitable, passionate, more noticeably happier, and are comfortable within a smaller range of ages. (In other words, the older you are, the more age groups you feel comfortable around as peers.)
Barmymoo:
Hat, that is also a possibility that I considered before posting. However I prefer to be optimistic about the healing powers of cats sporting bizarre clothing and odd captions. :wink:
And in reference to Linds' post, which appeared while I was writing this, the reason that it is specifically his house rather than ours is because he has lived here for over twenty years and I moved in six months ago. I do consider it to be his house, but it's also temporarily my home until I go to university. Sometimes it doesn't seem he always agrees. But to be fair to him, he is never violent and rarely raises his voice, although is immovably stubborn at times and my mum is still at the stage where she seems to back him up on issues that she's divided over, purely because they only got together about a year ago. Maybe that's just my perspective on it.
I have a friend who's an only child living with a single parent, she says exactly the same thing about getting on better with her mum if they didn't live together, but they're still close. I think it's often easier to be close to a single parent rather than trying to function in a family setting. I'd certainly find it easier, I think.
Nodaisho:
Now, I think some of the conflict that Barmymoo has could come from them just not knowing each other well. It took my father about fifteen years to realize I was just as stubborn as him, and that butting heads over trivial things wasn't going to do any good. I wouldn't say it is so much a matter of having a vote as being polite, if someone doesn't want the TV on during dinner, that doesn't seem at all like an outrageous request to make.
Course, I am 16, I have a bias, as does everyone else participating in this.
Lines:
Yeah, I get your point then, Barmymoo. But still, it's a tv. :|
tania:
my parents immigrated to canada in the 60s and i can't really tell whether or not my constant disdain for them is a result of family dynamics being different in russia or the possibility that maybe they are just ridiculous people regardless. to name a couple of examples, they deal with their severe debt issues basically by looking away and pretending they don't exist, they are petty and superficial and compete in just about everything with my extended family (to my dad, it is absolutely crucial that I end up more successful than his sister's kids), and they fight on a daily basis but always end up resorting to name-calling instead of civil discussions... which of course solves nothing in the long term.
in a lot of ways i feel i am more mature than my parents, which is kind of depressing considering they are almost 40 years older than me. there's a pretty big generation gap between us as well as evidenced in their constant racism/sexism/homophobia/etc. like tommy, i don't spend a lot of time with my parents because we fundamentally disagree on just about everything and being in the same place as them is really kind of a stressful experience.
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