This is funny because there is some truth to it. I have spent many nights editing and encouraging my own teens, but have no memory of any similar support from my own parents. There is objective evidence to support my experience: according to research by Jean Twenge, author of Generation We, as reported in the Telegraph, today’s students do 20% less school homework than their parents said they did in 1975. The interesting part is that they think they work harder!

Prof Twenge and her team compared the 1975 and 2006 results from an annual US survey called Monitoring the Future which polls high school students about their views on life. They found that a third more 17 to 20-year-olds today believe they work harder than their parents did and will be better than them when it comes to being parents, spouses and work colleagues – earning them the nickname the Smug Generation.

The Millennials I know believe the world is more competitive for them than it was for their parents. They also believe that they will be more successful, despite the greater challenges. Perhaps they deserve the ‘Smug Generation’ label. Then again, perhaps the parents are more to blame than the students?