to the young:
1. When I was young....in our time.....when I was your age.... How times have changed...
2. I've sacrificed so much for you... Is this what I get in return...
3. I never got a chance to do something I wanted to do.....go see places I've always wanted to....live my dream.....have the career I wanted..... Now I'm making all this possible for you.....
Putting this kind of huge pressure on the young only ends in distress for both - the one who makes these statements and the one to whom these are made. We really cannot lay any kind of emotional hold on any person, especially on the young even if they are our children.
We, each one of us, old and young, have to flower in our own gardens...