Not confident enough of when this event specifically occurred to provide an exact age, I want to discuss my first experience mowing the lawn since it was memorable enough to share a lesson from that day. No, I didn’t cut down all of my mom’s irises (that was a neighbor, not me); and no, I didn’t drive the lawn mower into a ditch and need hauling out (that was dad), but it is my dad’s guidance that emerged from the dark depths of my memory yesterday as faculty began discussing Gen Z.

Not realizing that my dad secretly enjoyed the solitary chore of mowing the grass, I asked if I could help and mow the yard while he attacked another household chore. Honestly, the motivation was more likely to practice driving something with a motor other than our neighbor’s go-cart. But climbing into the driver’s seat there in the front yard of Tipton View Subdivision (no house numbers yet as this was pre-911 emergency services), I proudly hit the gas pedal and took off; however, there might have been a single loop around the yard before I returned to dad, cut off the engine, and posed the question, “How can you tell where to cut?”

Dad’s answer to that question is the title of this post as he said, “Just follow where you’ve been.” Ok, I’m a female and need more instructions, please. “Just place the outside front tire along the edge of the grass that has already been cut” or something along those lines. Add in a Tool Man Taylor grunt, and you have the perfect picture of my dad’s communication style. Anyway, I understood these limited instructions and off I rode into the sunset, whittling blades of grass in my wake. 

But the wisdom in these words resonates into more of life than just as an application to cutting the grass. Let’s move indoors to another homeowner task of vacuuming. Prior to owning a Roomba, I would drag a device out of my closet and vacuum the carpet. See, where this is going? Same concept applies to knowing what locations still need your attention. There is sense of accomplishment for me in those two chores because I can follow where I’ve been through the pattern in the grass or the design the vacuum creates when it bristles the carpet. If an area was missed, there is a visual reminder of what needs to be gone over again.

Now, let’s apply these analogies to educating emerging adults currently known as Gen Z. Many of the students in my classes today have delayed certain transitions which previous generations would measure as a move towards maturity and independence such as gaining employment, securing a driver’s license, or earning income to spend at their discretion. The examples used in previous lessons no longer have meaning for a new generation of students and therefore, fall short in engaging the learner. Recognizing that today’s students have fewer life experiences than perhaps I did at their age, I must transform my mindset in order to best connect course content to examples in which they can relate.

How can I instruct a student on the intricacies of managing a multi-million-dollar athletic budget when they’ve never balanced a checkbook? Today, there’s an app for that! It is easy to follow the balance of a bank account, meager though it may be, often daily, without considering future bills that may come due or that an item hasn’t cleared yet. How can I impart to them the wisdom of a strategic financial plan and the importance of planning ahead for capital expenses when they have not experienced the agony of FICA and how much of their paycheck goes to this mysterious person!

As frustrating as these realities may be for someone leading emerging adults, the fact that generational differences exist do not vanish because we wish them to disappear. Guiding and coaching this generation is really what they need from us. Previous generations draw upon their past experiences or “follow where they’ve been” in order to guide present-day decisions. Unfortunately, older generations sometimes become greedy with their wisdom and think, “They’ll figure it out like I did” rather than investing time in a teachable, transformable moment.

We all need reference points and life experiences to guide us whether we are mowing a lawn, vacuuming a carpet, or learning anatomy and physiology. From a spiritual perspective, we also need teachers to show us how to grow into Godly men and women. Regardless of the circumstance, we all need wise people who choose to make an investment in relational equity even if it is a one-time moment, like instructions on mowing grass, that are now being applied to many life lessons, or a repeated investment compounded annually over many years like an IRA.

Reflect now on adjustments you can make in your interactions with younger generations to improve understanding and to better communicate examples so that their learning will flourish. Are there moments where you experienced this disconnect in asking students to draw upon past experiences? What adjustments have you made as a mentor, parent, educator, or employer that we can learn from? Please share in the comments below.