Millennial therapist and TikToker Mary Beth Somich just exposed a consistent and confusing practice among senior Boomer parents she says leaves their adult children feeling “twice as upset.” Somich, a 34-year-old licensed clinical mental-health counselor, noticed this pattern in both her professional practice and her personal life, prompting her to ask parents born between 1946 and 1964 one simple question: “Respectfully, why?”
This issue centers on the bizarre habit of older parents delaying serious personal or medical news until the absolute last moment. Somich, who has over 10 years of experience, used a viral TikTok video to act out a series of phone calls where the parent drops shocking information, such as, “your dad had open-heart surgery today.” In these skits, the parent tries to justify the delay by saying she didn’t want to worry her child about his health.
