Our society today has a better lifestyle than previous generations. The trend towards a better lifestyle between past and present generations has been holding true for many centuries. One of the reasons for this upward trend is that earlier generations pass on what is right and what is wrong to their children; this information-passing continues to
propagate from one generation to the next. My childhood compared to my parents' childhood can demonstrate how I had a better childhood. I had an easy childhood, education was important for me, and generally, I was not expected to be responsible until a later age.
My childhood was easy compared to my parents. For example, I did not do a lot of chores around the house: the reason was the availability of modern machines such as dishwashers, laundry machines, running water, and many appliances around the house that
automate human tasks. In addition to all these machines, we always had a maid to do the housework. Both my parents, on the other hand, were not blessed with these machines, so they had to do manual labor. My mother would help her mother and sisters by manually washing clothes. Water was provided by my mother’s brothers; bringing gallons of water from the local well was "a male job." Also, both my parents were poor before the oil boom so their families could not afford to hire a maid. Money was barely enough to keep people fed in the past.
Education was not that important in the past, but it is today. Twenty years ago, people could easily get a job even with minimum education. Today, people need as much education as possible to get a decent job. My father ran away from home because of an abusive father at age 13 and from that point on started his own life. He always told us stories of how uneducated 15-year-olds could get jobs both at governmental and private
institutions. A lot of people in the past built them selves from nothing, while people today rely on their parents to get somewhere in life. For example, when my father ran away from home he had no money in his pockets and managed to work as an office boy in
Aramco, an oil company. The management at the company noticed his hard work and his potential to rise in the ranks. Years have passed and the company continued to develop him and train him. My father retired from the company as one of the top ten highest-ranking executives. I, on the other hand, rely on my father as much as possible to get somewhere in life. I need his hard earned money to continue my education. I worked hard to get a scholarship to ease the
burden on him, but I was 1% short of obtaining a scholarship. I scored 79% in my high school diploma; I needed 80% to get a scholarship but did not manage to achieve that.
Responsibility today is expected from 18 to 21 year olds. In the past, responsibility was expected from 13 year olds. There was no such thing as a teenager in the past. There were children, and then there was adults. A person was expected to act like an adult once they hit puberty. My mother had to help her parents in raising her younger brothers and sisters. Her job was to act as a motherly figure while her brothers took the job of fatherly figure. In my generation, only the parents are expected to raise the children, and the children are expected to be irresponsible and immature up until they exit their teen years. When that happens, society expects a responsible adult. Unfortunately, since I rank fourth between my brothers and sisters, having a 33 year old sister, 32 year old brother, 28 year old brother, 19 year old sister and 18 year old sister, I’m still not considered responsible enough in my parents' eyes because they have the false belief that old age plays a role in responsibility. I have challenged them on their belief, but I have a feeling they might be right, since they are older and wiser.
What is apparent from comparing my generation with my parents generation is that I had an easier childhood than they did. My generation is expected to be highly educated to get a good job while theirs did not emphasize education. Responsibility is pushed to a higher age limit in my generation compared with the lower age limit imposed in their generation.