Gen Alpha gets a bad rap for being overstimulated 'iPad kids,' but one teacher says we've got it all wrong
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- Gen Alphas are nicknamed "iPad kids" because of the amount of time they spend staring at screens.
- But one teacher has praised the generation's emotional intelligence thanks to the parents that raised them.
- Several people said their children's emotional intelligence was a priority for them.
Gen Alphas have gained a reputation for spending hours staring at their iPads and laughing at memes that no one else understands. But one teacher has pointed out what she feels is another distinctive trait of the generation — their emotional intelligence.
Born between 2010 and 2024, most Gen Alpha children are being raised by millennials. They've even been dubbed "mini-millennials" due to the similarities they share with the older generation, who make up most of their parents.
After spending their own childhoods having to listen to the anxieties of their boomer parents, many millennials are trying to raise their kids differently. According to one teacher, it might be working.
On December 2, Elysse Landy, a teacher at Windsor Elementary School in Orem, Utah, posted a video in which she praised the emotional intelligence of some of the Gen Alpha children she teaches.
She said she feels like many Gen Alpha children are being raised by parents who have been to therapy and are working to break generational trauma cycles. "It really shows in some of these kids," she said.
As an example, she described witnessing an interaction between two students who were having an argument. Before she could intervene, one of the kids turned to the other and told them they felt like they had "a lot going on," and suggested they put off the conversation until they were both able to "be calm about it," she said.
The TikToker said she was shocked by the behavior. "The way they handled that was amazing. You know what 10-year-old me would have done? Cried. And then went and told the teacher," she said. "What are they feeding these kids?"
@littlelandy Gen Alpha both intrigues and terrifies me #genalpha #teachersoftiktok #elementaryteacher #emotionalintelligence
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On TikTok, many viewers were relieved to see a teacher praising the generation.
"This is the first time I've seen a teacher talk about the positives in gen alpha and I'm legit crying. Thank you," one viewer wrote.
Another who said they were raising a Gen Alpha daughter as a xennial — a microgeneration born between the late 1970s and the early 1980s — wrote that her emotional intelligence was their "top priority."
Meanwhile, one viewer who said they were a millennial wrote that they'd worked to instill emotional intelligence into their kids after their own boomer parents failed to do it for them.
Perhaps most notable of all was the relief that many people expressed upon being recognized for the work they had put in to raise their children.
"Thank you for saying this," wrote one viewer. "Almost every millennial parent I know is trying so hard and it's not often we get a pat on the back."