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Agree with those who declare this whole thing meaningless except as a marketing label. Why should people several years apart be lumped together as exhibiting common characteristics stemming from shared experiences, while two people born a year apart during a boundary year, are deemed different in experience and outlook.
I always consider true baby boomers as those whose father (or a few mothers I'm sure) was of military age and served in WW2. The "boom" was from veterans returning from war. Part of being a boomer was having a parent who grew up in the depression and experienced war.
By the time I was born (1960) my father was considered "old" as he had served in WW2 while there were some having children in 1960 who literally were children at the end of WW2. We also had older brothers and sisters, which also brought a different experience. As other posters have said, we always got the hand me downs from those older than us. Not just clothes, but jobs, etc.
I think those that had those parents definitely had a different home experience growing up than the kid across the street with younger parents who may not even have served in the military.
I always consider true baby boomers as those whose father (or a few mothers I'm sure) was of military age and served in WW2. The "boom" was from veterans returning from war. Part of being a boomer was having a parent who grew up in the depression and experienced war.
By the time I was born (1960) my father was considered "old" as he had served in WW2 while there were some having children in 1960 who literally were children at the end of WW2. We also had older brothers and sisters, which also brought a different experience. As other posters have said, we always got the hand me downs from those older than us. Not just clothes, but jobs, etc.
I think those that had those parents definitely had a different home experience growing up than the kid across the street with younger parents who may not even have served in the military.
My dad served in WWII and I was born in 1969. I agree with the bolded, and also agree that having older brothers and sisters was a different experience (than not having older siblings) but I really don't have much in common with the "true" (early) Boomers. Family life is only part of it. Society and culture was very, very different in the 1950s when the Boomers were children than it was in the 1970s when I was growing up.
One very noticeable factor was that the late 1940s/50s Boomers grew up with lots and lots of kids their age. Their generation was so significant because it was so huge. By the time I was born in almost 1970, the birth rate was getting pretty low. GenX is a much smaller group overall. There were hardly any kids in my neighborhood, and my school district closed two schools while I was in the elementary years because there weren't enough kids to fill them.
I always consider true baby boomers as those whose father (or a few mothers I'm sure) was of military age and served in WW2. The "boom" was from veterans returning from war. Part of being a boomer was having a parent who grew up in the depression and experienced war.
By the time I was born (1960) my father was considered "old" as he had served in WW2 while there were some having children in 1960 who literally were children at the end of WW2. We also had older brothers and sisters, which also brought a different experience. As other posters have said, we always got the hand me downs from those older than us. Not just clothes, but jobs, etc.
I think those that had those parents definitely had a different home experience growing up than the kid across the street with younger parents who may not even have served in the military.
All good points.
In 4th grade the teacher asked how old our fathers were. Most kids said 47,48,50. One said 29. We all laughed and laughed not understanding how someone could have a dad that young.
B: As far as I know, I'm a Baby Boomer......and still on those of the generations later hit list.
C: Is there a true meaning to these terms? That is, I would take it that GJ is suppose to be in constant competition with the next store neighbor? Well, what if you never really lived where there are next store neighbors, like being an Army Brat and then in the service......then what are you?
Actually, it was in another thread that BDL "kindly informed me about this s "Jones" thing for us later baby boomers, as I mentioned above.
I'd never heard of it til this year. I looked it up, wiki to the rescue! (Go look it up)
"They" say the "Jones " boomers had more in common with the the baby bust generation.
Hmm, that would be my younger brother.
I NEVER had anything"more in common " with him and his cohorts... maybe, for one thing, personal computers weren't out when I graduated. But he and his classmates had 2-3 years of lessons and teaching on them?
I definitely had more in common with the older boomers. Even with my cousins, who range from 58-44 (she's not birth years). I have more in common with the other 3 older ones, and it's not just the "tag along" younger ones. Every year we had a family reunion for a week at grandmas.. whenever we we returned "home to the Midwest". We were the furthest away in NY and the only ones out of home state.
We all "played together", played games etc, had general fun.
We older ones are talking about retirement, how we'll manage our assets, medical issues, etc
The younger ones are still working and rarely communicate with us older ones.
One younger was murdered at 30, one younger one doesn't really communicate with the family at all. He's a real loner. Could not get him to even say hi at my aunt's funeral.
One, when we were discussing that "we are the seniors now" as our parents die off, and all but 3 of us (4 if you include the murdered one) have no children)..anyway he has a child, a full head of snow white hair (I'd be glad to HAVE hair) firmly declared "I'm NOT old!". I said "you're over 50, you're old,!"
I don't know when this "Jones " lable was slapped on us, certainly wasn't by the time I graduated HS, at least not that I'd heard.
However, all that said, I think a "generation "that is 18 years in duration WILL regardless of specifics be split in two somewhere. A person born in 1946 COULD easily give birth to a (last) "baby boomer ".
I think another thing that has lead to such a long decline in births Is something no one has yet pinpointed...at least not that I've heard.
And that would s that for at least 20 years, younger people trying to have a baby, well a growing number have to resort to invitro or other family creating endeavor s to succeed in having babies these days.
I was shocked when a 24 yr old couple at work said they'd need invitro!
Maybe it's the flouride in the water, the bastardization of food sources etc.
Many of us younger boomers including my spouse (1958) seen to have serious bone conditions as we age
Anybody remember thalidomide? And the birth defects it caused?
And a growing number of "special needs" or autistic people too.
My dad served in WWII and I was born in 1969. I agree with the bolded, and also agree that having older brothers and sisters was a different experience (than not having older siblings) but I really don't have much in common with the "true" (early) Boomers. Family life is only part of it. Society and culture was very, very different in the 1950s when the Boomers were children than it was in the 1970s when I was growing up.
One very noticeable factor was that the late 1940s/50s Boomers grew up with lots and lots of kids their age. Their generation was so significant because it was so huge. By the time I was born in almost 1970, the birth rate was getting pretty low. GenX is a much smaller group overall. There were hardly any kids in my neighborhood, and my school district closed two schools while I was in the elementary years because there weren't enough kids to fill them.
I don't think anyone born after the mid 1960s has any clue how many children actually filled the houses and streets (and schools) through the late 60s and early 70s. I now live in the same house I grew up in, and its even hard for me to comprehend today the difference in my neighborhood. I can name 50 kids who lived in the 10-15 houses closest to mine in the late 60s, but today in those same houses there are now just 5 children total, with children in only 3 of the houses. I have more first cousins (well over 20) than there are children of all of my first cousins, that's how much the birth rate has dropped since then.
Maybe today in some Mormon, Hassidic, or immigrant communities there are still some neighborhoods like what most of us experienced. There are a couple of streets in my city that gave me some nostalgia passing through as there were a couple of porchfulls of immigrant kids running around, but this was only on a couple of blocks, and not a whole neighborhood or more.
My parents had seven kids. The first three born in 1947, 1950, and 1953. The last four born in 1960, 1963, 1966, and 1969.
Technically the first five are all "Boomers," while the last two are "GenX."
I have to say that the younger two "Boomers" (1960 & 63) have much more in common with the last two of us, in terms of experiences, mindset, memories, and what life was like growing up, than with the ones who were born right after WWII. (I'm the youngest.)
I'd never heard of "Jones Generation" either, but it does seem kind of ridiculous to think that my brother who is now 58 is classified with the "Boomers" like our 74-year-old brother, instead of GenX like our 55-year-old sister and me.
That's my thought process. Generally, the closer in age you are, the more you have in common, regardless of where the people fall on the generational column.
Still, some of the "generational identity" thing is cultural. I was born in 1986. I came of age in the late 1990s/early 2000s when the internet was really just starting to become mainstream. I've been on the internet since the mid 1990s as a kid. I still have an active Yahoo! email account from 09/30/1999 (just confirmed that)...when I was 13. It was fairly rare for people my age, and especially in my local area, to spend lots of time on the internet back then. Though it was on the computer instead of a smartphone, I was probably nearly as connected to the internet growing up as someone born in 1996. Being active on the internet at a relatively young age is a big cultural marker for me. Culturally, I think I have more in common with someone born in 1996 than someone born in 1977 - even though I'm closer in age to the 1977 person.
I've seen the "Generation Jones" thing many times when I looked up generational data. I just don't see how someone born in 1946, who was really born in the "rush" after the war, has much in common with someone born in 1963.
I've always thought generations, at least from a cultural perspective, should last no more than ten years or so. My girlfriend was born in 1974. We don't have the same cultural markers at all. She grew up in an isolated area of rural WNC that was more akin to how my grandparents grew up, and definitely nothing like I did. My previous girlfriend, who is now deceased, was born in 1994. We had far more cultural similarities, though the age gap isn't that much more with my current girlfriend.
I always consider true baby boomers as those whose father (or a few mothers I'm sure) was of military age and served in WW2. The "boom" was from veterans returning from war. Part of being a boomer was having a parent who grew up in the depression and experienced war.
By the time I was born (1960) my father was considered "old" as he had served in WW2 while there were some having children in 1960 who literally were children at the end of WW2. We also had older brothers and sisters, which also brought a different experience. As other posters have said, we always got the hand me downs from those older than us. Not just clothes, but jobs, etc.
I think those that had those parents definitely had a different home experience growing up than the kid across the street with younger parents who may not even have served in the military.
Agreed.
One of my grandfathers was born in 1932. He was drafted at the tail end of Korea, though he was just testing clothing products. The other grandfather was born in 1935. He was too young for the draft then, and never served. Neither were old enough to be WWII vets.
My grandmother married my grandfather in 1952 - when she was 15, and he was 20. Neither were old enough to have kids during the initial baby room rush in the immediate aftermath of WWII.
My parents were born in 1957. They have little in common with the "60's hippies" and early Boomers. They're Jonesers.
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I agree with the bolded, and also agree that having older brothers and sisters was a different experience (than not having older siblings) but I really don't have much in common with the "true" (early) Boomers. Family life is only part of it. Society and culture was very, very different in the 1950s when the Boomers were children than it was in the 1970s when I was growing up. 
