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we think, consume, communicate and create. And that
reality has made millennials unique in their own right.
On the other hand, there is nothing unique about living
through transformational times. When radios and later
televisions, for instances, conquered every living room,
our collective perspective suddenly went from local news
to globally informed. The rise of the automobile changed
our daily routines and literally the pace of everyday life.
When teenagers first became a targeted consumer mar-
ket in the 1950s, an entire culture and voice was born.
My own father, likewise, remembered the day when a
lightbulb was first hung from the ceiling of his home.
(I can hear the voice of parents past, “Little Manny is
always tied to the lamp reading those books. In my day
we had to make up our own stories in the dark.”)
Chances are good millennial moms and dads eventu-
ally will same similar things – which they never thought
they’d say – to and about their own kids, as well. And
yes, despite conventional wisdom, millennials will and are
starting families. According to one study by online brand
outreach platform Crowdtap, more than 60 million millen-
nials — about 80 percent of the generation — will become
parents in the next decade. Sure, millennials are having
kids later in life than previous generations, but that’s a
trend we’ve been witnessing for decades, with the aver-
age age of mothers at first child rising from about 22 years
old in 1979 to just over 26 years old today, show U.S.
Department of Labor and Commerce figures.
Currently, about six in 10 millennials above the age of
31 fall into Nielsen’s “starting a family” subset, or are living
in their own homes with children. That may sound like a
lot of older millennials are without children, but consider
a 2010 survey by the Center for Work Life Policy which
found that 40 percent of Generation X women between
the ages of 41 and 45 years old also didn’t have kids,
while 36 percent of Gen X men were childless by age 40.
According to Pew figures, there are about 14 million mil-
lennial moms in the U.S., which explains why retailers such
as J.C. Penney’s, Target, Walmart, Kroger and Whole Foods
have been adapting strategies to appeal to this group.
Winter
2017
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Inside
Outdoor
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