Have we become irrelevant to the next generation? or We have become to the next generation!

Historically, the passing of the baton from generation to generation was considered a transfer of the mantle of wisdom and leadership. Our antecedents were appreciated and respected for their knowledge and worldly experience; they were our guiding lights.

The broad-based value of honouring elders in general, and parents in particular, was always understood as a statement of deference and admiration. It was a way for society to acknowledge the social hierarchy, with seniors considered superior, both in character and wisdom, than their progeny.

But we live in a different era. The knowledge of our elders has become redundant. Their frames of reference are insignificant and their wisdom is obsolete. Children are worldlier than their parents even before they reach adolescence, and the accepted paradigm of parental wisdom is all but nullified. People have become fossilised while still in the prime of their lives.

Perhaps there are two dialectical responses. On the one hand we can accept the new paradigm and all that it entails; we cannot change progress. Our relationships with our children will be more cordial than reverential, and more casual than respectful. As parents our roles as models will be ever decreasing.

An alternate approach is to become moral giants by committing ourselves to lives of value and purpose. By investing in our character, we act as a guiding light to our children. We may know less than them, but we will always be 20 or 30 years ahead of them in terms of character refinement. We will always have something to teach, and they something to learn.

But it requires willpower to be that example, to be endearing and enduring role models.