“Help! I Don’t Know What My Kids Do!”

One mother’s son said he was a full-time streamer. Mom was relieved to learn that he wasn’t a “streaker” who spent every day naked.

Another mother’s daughter is a part-time influencer. Mom is familiar with “influence” in both its verb and noun forms but she doesn’t get the whole “-er” thing.

Yet another mother thought her son was joking when he told her that he works as a “Cloud Architect.”

Welcome to a world where “millennial jobs baffle boomers,” as Pulitzer-winning writer  Kathleen Parker showed in a November column: “22 years into the 21st century, many parents of a certain age could not begin to tell you what their children do for a living.”

Mystery jobs

Parker says Boomers worked solid, non-mysterious jobs: “butchers and doctors, lawyers and truck drivers, accountants and electricians, plumbers, chefs and firefighters, and yes, even reporters.”

Today, you’ve got “chief evangelists;” social media marketers; people who manage change, risk, and employee wellness; and “influencers,” people who are famous for being famous and actually get paid for it!

Parker paints the picture of conversations that probably happen every day somewhere in America after someone asks, “How are your children?”

“Good, they’re good. They’re all gainfully employed, thank God. But honestly, I have no idea what they do.”

This is usually followed by gales of laughter…

Funny, but sad?

I’ve shared a few laughs with friends about crazy millennial job titles. Still, when I hear about conversations like those described above, I’m convinced that we seniors need to do a much better job of communicating with our kids about their careers and their lives.

We aren’t required to be conversant with every crazy job title that’s out there.

But we do need to understand the crazy jobs our kids have. If we don’t understand what they do, we’re missing out on sharing with them and praying for them about something that’s at the center of their lives right now.

People who are part of the Retirement Reformation believe that the retirement years may be the best years to build deeper relationships with loved ones.

Why not try to go a bit deeper with your kids by investing the time and energy in asking them to explain it all to you.

Start by asking the six basic questions Parker and other journalists asks every day.

• Who?

• What?

• Where?

• When?

• Why?

• How?

Keep asking these questions until you attain a clearer grasp of what they do every day.

Perhaps you might even find time to do so over the coming holidays?

This message is brought to you by The Retirement Reformation, which seeks to encourage and empower the 50 million Christians approaching or in retirement to embrace the calling God has been preparing them for. Find out more here.