When questioned whether he felt annoyed about being asked to do something he didn't want to do, my ten-year-old son defensively replied, "Most children my age would feel this way." Some months ago, he told me, "It may have worked in your Generation, but now it won't."

I felt a generation gap between my mother and me when I was a teenager (and still do), but to realise one exists between my son and me feels somewhat unwelcome. One of my goals was (and is) to keep up with changing times; I don't want to pretend I'm Young but don't want to become a relic either. 

But when the young have as many perceptions about the old (as the old do about the young), is the barrier inevitable?