Generation gaps

[JaneYoung]

I'd like to address one aspect and it is the easy access to communication in the 2000s. It can apply to family, work, and team.

My generation grew up feeling privileged if we had a black and white tv. My husband's family had the very first color tv in their neighborhood and on Saturday mornings his house was like the local matinee for the children complete with juice and cookies.

I took a hiatus from work to watch my children grow. I wanted to be home to see their their first steps, hear their first word, dig in the dirt with sticks with them. After 10 years, my old supervisor called and said, 'enough is enough'. This would be 1997. We met to discuss my return to the university where I work and I asked what the biggest change would be in the students. She said communication - that everything is instant now. Well, now it is 2006 and her words ring even more true than they did in 1997. Everything is instant. Instant access, instant communication.

Working with that within the generation gap requires patience and understanding and communication. Not instant but good old one on one exchanges of information and discussions. It takes time and time is something that I like to work with, helping the younger generation appreciate that this project will take time, working through this problem will take time, letting a little time pass and then re-evaluate the situation. Not everything is or can be instant. Sometimes that is a hard concept to grasp or convey.
Thanks for the thread Kathie!