Baby Basics - Showers, Names, Gifts & Boomer Grandparents

Helping Parents and Baby Boomer Grandparents

One of the inevitable phenomena of the 21st Century is that Baby Boomers in unprecedented num- bers are becoming grandparents. Baby boomers have transformed every stage of life they've touched, and being grandparents is no different.

So, it's little wonder that this new generation of grandparents is vastly different from those of the past. Baby boomers are healthier and more active, their values are vastly different, and they steadfastly refuse to be like their parents. As they have redefined their world with relentless consistency, they also have redefined the role of grandparents.

Unlike previous generations, Boomers in numbers never before imagined have formed multigenerational households or have extended families from second and third marriages. Grandchildren are being brought into this milieu. In a revolutionary sort of way, these circumstances place the boomer grandparent much more in the role of another parent. Unlike the past, the grandkids then play a major role in their lives.

For today's Boomer Grandparents, a pregnancy in the family is more akin to having another baby themselves. Traditional family structure is blurred.

Its not a huge leap for marketers to perceive that baby showers, baby gifts and all things about having a baby will be profoundly influenced by Boomer Grandparents. There should be no difficulty imagining that boomers' nostalgia for their own childhood and youth will have a strong influence on the current generation of babies. The culture they still project of 1960s and 1970s will be mated with the culture surrounding their grandchildren. And, so, a new day dawns.