When Gen Z Walks Away: The Gen X Parent Perspective

More and more parents are quietly noticing a growing distance with their adult children, and many Gen Z kids are just as quickly setting boundaries or even stepping away completely. If you’ve wondered why this is happening, you’re not alone.

In this episode of Building Resilience, I explore the generational nervous system gap and why relationships between Gen X parents and Gen Z children can feel so strained. This isn’t about blame, it’s about understanding how cultural shifts, nervous system regulation, and different approaches to mental health have shaped how each generation sees family, boundaries, and connection.

We’ll unpack research on rising family estrangement, why Gen Z is more likely to see boundaries as survival rather than betrayal, and how Gen X parents, who often poured decades of effort, time, and sacrifice into raising their kids, are making sense of this new reality. I’ll also talk about the risks on both sides: what Gen Z might lose when they disconnect too quickly, and what Gen X could face as they age without the support they expected.

We’ll explore:

• The nervous system's role in feeling safe or unsafe
• Gen Z's emotional vocabulary, its strengths and challenges
• Why Gen X parents feel blindsided despite their best efforts
• The difference between healthy boundaries (bridges) and isolating ones (walls)

Links and Resources:

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