A baby boomer is someone who was born between the years of 1946 and 1964. After world war ll ended, a larger than usual population of babies were suddenly being born. This time period was known as the era of the “population boom,” or, as some called it, the “population explosion.”
How this term first started and exactly who coined the phrase is not known, but soon all people born in this time period were considered baby boomers. This time period actually carried two distinct generations of people with completely different standards and with a different set of moral values. Those born in the earlier years of the boomer generation grew up quite differently than those who grew up in the later years.
Those who came of age at around 1970, meaning, getting married and raising children contrasted sharply with those who came of age around 1980. Kids and teens in the 60′s and 70′s were being brought up at a time when rock n’ roll music was the new wave of sound, there was a lot tension between the races as Blacks began to demand their place in the world. Hippies became prevalent, and everything considered “proper” became “square.” Drugs use began to soar to never-before-seen heights as young people considered themselves a part of “The New Revolution” and began to rebel against conforming to the standards of America’s expectations of them as citizens. Illicit sex and drugs became the forefront.
In contrast, the boomers who were born in the late 40′s to the early 50′s were raised by those who lived a much different lifestyle. They were usually married and had a family by thSe early 1970s, and their lives were more like their parents had raised them. However, still being relatively young and impressionable, some of them began to fall into the lifestyles of the younger hippie types, not wanting to feel “old” and “square.”
No doubt, the parents who raised these children were completely bewildered and at times felt overwhelmed by this new wave era. However, some good did come out of it. Racial equality did improve and justice was served in many cases where it would not have been fairly decided. More and more, people of different races and nationalities became united in ways not heard of before. Many baby boomers today, now in their late 40′s to early 60′s, realize the mistakes they made by the use of drugs and indiscriminate sex.