The modernization of the world has given a whole new meaning to the term, “generation gap”. In the past few decades, there has been a sweeping change in everything from cultures to values to the global climate. This massive change that is gaining momentum by every passing second has probably taken the worst toll on inter-generational relationships. Even the chronologically adjacent generations find themselves struggling tooth and nail to cope up together, and the situation for the grandparent – grandchild relationship is only getting worse.
However, generation gap is something that would have existed even in the absence of modernization. It only suggests that each generation has its own ways of maturation as it faces different challenges, forms different values, and adopts different attitudes and behaviors. Coping with all these changes in an inter-generational relationship can be difficult at times, but it’s essential to revise the age-old strategy of thundering, “Who’s in charge here?” because it almost never works.
It is only too natural to think of a conflict as the battle between right and wrong; however, the originating point of understanding is that sometimes, in case of a conflict, nobody is in the wrong. The predicament of most of the inter-generational clashes that take place over the issue of disciplining the children can be sorted out by developing an understanding of the complex nature of the multi-faceted generation gap, and a willingness to smooth it out with love.
According to Oxford Dictionary, the term “generation gap” is defined as:
“A difference of attitudes between people of different generations, leading to a lack of understanding.”
Well, the solution lies inside the definition of the problem itself. What results from the lack of understanding can be nipped by an abundance of it. In the end, there are only two things that bridge the widest of the relationship gaps; love, and an understanding to accommodate the differences by accepting them the way they are.