Just like you , I too have heard of generational cohorts like Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y , Millennials, Gen Z. With members of each cohort going through the adolescent / teenager and other phases. But the other day, while researching a project for elderly, I came across the term “Seenagers”. I was a bit baffled and decided to dig a bit deeper into this. Here’s what I found..
Every individual goes through the lifecycle – baby- teenager, adolescence, marriage followed by parenting as they have children. Teenager -is the age of playing the rebel, hanging out with friends, putting posters on your room wall, asking for pocket money and then saving or borrowing from friends to party and having a blast. As the children grow up and fly off to college or start working, parents end up pushing the late fifties, turn empty nesters and end up realising they have free time on hand until your kids have babies and you get drawn into the vortex of grandparenting. Each generational cohort is labelled so as to serve as a shorthand to reference nearly 20 years of attitude, motivations, and historical events which shaped their lives for e.g
- Baby Boomers – Born after the World War i.e 1946 – 1964
- Gen X – Those born in 1965-1980
- Gen Y/ Millennials – born between 1981 – 1996
- Gen Z – born between 1997-2012 with those born between 1994-2000 also termed as Zillenials
- Gen A – born after 2012
Seenagers refers to those who are senior citizens but who have no baggage and hence the freedom like teenagers to do things they always wanted to do. Things like hanging out with long lost schoolmates or college mates or do things they always wanted to do.With time on hand, these parents are akin to teenagers albeit aka “Senior Teenagers.” or Seenagers. Their characteristics:- - You have everything you ever wanted as a teenager – it just arrived about 50 years late.
- You have no curfew.
- You have a driver licence. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want!
- Your driver licence is your ID and gets you or your friends into the liquor store AND into any bar you want!
- You have your own place and you can hang anything you want on the walls.
- You don’t have to go to school or work and you get an allowance from the government!
- You don’t have acne and for the women in the audience – you’re not afraid of getting pregnant and hormones and hot flashes are pretty much a thing of the past.
- You can eat junk food whenever you want – unless indigestion is an issue!
- Life is good.
If you think you might be a seenager there has never been a better time to embrace the sense of optimism this particular definition represents. If the budget from your “allowance” allows – now is the time to see the world, explore and try new things. Travel agencies have caught on to this cohort and have tailored packages. If your physical health permits, choose one new thing to do and give it a try. It doesn’t have to be a bungee jump or zip-lining or a roller coaster – it could be something as simple as going out for sushi if that’s something you’ve never done before. Even better, gather a friend or two to join you in the adventure. After all, that’s probably what you would have done when you were a teenager! So chuck whatever you are doing and for once live life for yourself or as they say live life kingsize.Cheers!
