Millennial Moms are Not Their Mothers

Each generation of parents are different from their predecessors, and when it comes to parenting styles, most new parents tend to develop their own methods and at times avoid some of the methods they grew up with at home. This couldn’t be more true with millennial moms. A recent study earlier this year from BabyCenter, the world’s leading parenting and pregnancy web destination, revealed what makes millennial moms so different from other generations of mothers.

“The Millennial Mom is more than you think she is,” says Mike Fogarty, SVP and Global Publisher at BabyCenter. “She represents a cultural and economic force that’s creating lasting change. Remember, this generation entered adulthood in the late 1990s with a tailwind of economic growth and global stability, only to see their future thrown into question. Millennial Moms are also bucking convention – in the way they raise their kids and the way they live their own lives.” Fogarty adds, “The media’s coverage of this generation as self-centered and entitled misses the point. Millennials are a study in contrasts. They’re underemployed but entrepreneurial, educated but in debt, digital natives fluent with technology and new media – but back to basics with a strong focus on the environment, health, and nutrition.”

Below are a couple key highlights from the release.

She’s Not Her Mother
Millennial Moms are the product of helicopter parenting and opt to parent their own children differently by adopting a more relaxed approach. Despite parenting pressures, Millennial Moms say their parenting style is loving (96%), encouraging (92%), supportive (90%), and involved (87%). When asked about their own upbringing, Millennial Moms are more likely than Gen X moms to say that their parents were protective (63% vs. 49%), worried (38% vs. 26%), and enabling (34% vs. 25%). However, when asked about their own parenting style, Millennial Moms say they are fun (88% vs. 82% of Gen X moms), forgiving (87% vs. 77%), relaxed (59% vs 48%), and aspirational (49% vs. 39%).

She’s Socially Selective
Despite increased social media activity, Millennial Moms are less concerned about posting pictures of themselves or their children to social networks. This may be due to the fact that they are more tech-savvy and know how to take security precautions. Four out of five Millennial Moms don’t settle for Facebook’s default privacy settings and three out of five turn off location services for photos and/or social media sites.

Millennial Moms are also happy to communicate with others digitally. Compared to Gen X moms, Millennial Moms are twice as likely to prefer communicating with their parents via text, and twice as likely to use social media to send birthday party invitations. In addition, Millennial Moms are 21% less likely to send a thank-you note via postal mail.