Gen X Kids are the Toughest Generation. But We Also Grew Up Way Too Fast.

I am Gen X. We are known as the ghost generation, the invisible generation. We are also known as the tough kids of Boomers.

There are 65.2 million Gen Xers. Millennials outnumber us at 72.24 million. Boomers are at around 71.6 million boomers, so the same as millennials. And Gen Z, clocks in at 68.6 million.

So we are the smallest generation at this time. But strangely, many of the generations are around the same population numbers. But we are still invisible!

This TikTok explains it perfectly:

We are also known for being feral almost and able to survive a lot.

Ok, let’s break this down:

1. Their families had them trained by age 2. Yes, definitely. I remember helping my mom and grandma with household chores. They would have had me cooking meals too if they could have!
2. Yes, Gen X kids did leave the house at daybreak and back when the street lights came on. We were attached to our bikes and went to the mall.
3. Yes, my mom didn’t check in on me that often. I was also in charge of making sure my little sister stayed alive.
4. Kidnapping attempt? Maybe later on when I was in college but not as a kid. Though we had those kidnapping assemblies once a year at least. Great way to give kids anxiety!
5. We are the f-k around and find out people!

Divorced Families, Drugs and More

This Quora post really encapsulates why Gen X struggled:

GenX had a very different childhood than the generation before or after them. The generation after them is often aghast at what a GenX childhood was like, while the generation before them looks down on the childhood of GenX that they…