Parenting Post-9/11

The “Parenting Post-9/11” chapter examines the environment that Generation Disaster’s caregivers created within the family microsystem throughout their childhood and adolescence, as parents are generally the most important developmental influence during those formative years. It then considers how this cohort’s parents were impacted by 9/11 and all of the subsequent societal changes, as well as their fears about children’s safety amid the rise in school shootings, and it demonstrates how children’s responses to stressful and traumatic events are closely correlated with their caregivers’ reactions. The chapter considers whether accusations of “helicopter parenting” by these caregivers are valid, and it examines the impact of smartphones and other technologies on the first group of parents and children that had to incorporate these tools into their family dynamics.