Baby Boomers As Grandparents

The children of the so-called Baby Boomer generation, those born in the twelve years or so after the Second World War, are now grandparents and one of the tasks of being a grandparent is to dote on one's grandchildren. Baby boomers belong to the wealthiest generation that the West has ever seen and that is a good thing, because all this doting is fairly expensive.

Baby boomers were fortunate because their parents survived the worst war the world has ever seen and their parents knew unparalleled wealth as the world rebuilt itself after the destruction of the war. Needless to say a lot of the wealth that baby boomers' parents were earning was spent on their children, giving them what they had never had themselves.

This meant that a great deal of baby boomers had way too much: rocking horses, dolls' prams, toy forts, train sets, dolls' houses, you name it. Nothing was too much for the generation of hope from the generation who had had nothing.

Now, fifty odd years later, those baby boomers are grandparents. But not just grandparents - the richest generation of grandparents that the world has ever seen and the way things are going, the richest generation of grandparents that the world will see for a generation or two to come as the Western world struggles to pay off the huge amounts of debt that the banking crisis cost us.

Nevertheless, money has a way of burning holes in pockets and grandparents like to dote and spoil their grand kids, so grandchildren, particularly young grandchildren are being given the type of presents by their grandparents that the grandparents used to enjoy themselves: rocking horses, dolls' prams, toy forts et cetera are making a come-back big time.

The generation in between missed out, in general, on these old fashioned toys, but look on Amazon or eBay and see what is most in demand now - it is contemporary versions of the old stuff, traditional toys. One of the reasons why traditional toys are so popular is because they are timeless.

Yes, a computer is a great present - it is both a games machine and it can be educational, but it will be too sluggish to run next year's games, whereas kids will play with a rocking horse for ten years and then it can be passed on.

However, boomer grandparents were not just brought up on traditional toys, the Fifties and Sixties also saw a tremendous boost in science - nuclear science and the journey into space fascinated most people. Yes, it was a time of uncertainty and distrust too because or the Arms Race with the Soviet Bloc, but that was not what most individuals talked about.

Music and science were the issues of the day. Flower power, hippies and a modern, clean, bright way of life powered by new technology. Educational toys were popular gifts: Lego, Meccano and chemistry sets.

Toys of this sort are becoming popular as baby boomer grandparent gifts too. Lego sells one Lego set each and every seven seconds of every day of every year, day and night! This is a new trend, or at least, it is a revived trend and definitely a step in the right direction. Baby boomers might not have been the best parents, but they are pretty decent grandparents.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with Silver Cross Rocking Horses. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Rocking Horses for sale.