Americans Say Their Parent Is Their Bestie
At some point during the teenage years, a lot of kids can’t wait to get away from their parents, but that tends to change as you grow up. By the…
Adults say their parents are their bestie
At some point during the teenage years, a lot of kids can’t wait to get away from their parents, but that tends to change as you grow up. By the time you’re an adult, you tend to appreciate your relationship with your mom and dad a lot more. And according to Talker, a new survey, states that 53% of Americans say their parent is their bestie.
The poll of 2-thousand U.S. adults age 40 and older, say there parent is their bestie. Here is what else the survey reveals:
- More than half (58%) feel closer to their parents now than ever before.
- The top things people enjoy doing with their parents who are in their “Golden Years” - the phase of life for seniors who are typically retired - are shopping together (33%), trying new restaurants (26%) and traveling to new places (16%).
- Some even like going to concerts together, and their bucket list shows include The Rolling Stones (17%), Usher (12%) and Taylor Swift (11%).
- Spending time with their aging parents like this has had a positive impact on the parent/child relationship for 88% of those surveyed.
- Half say it’s made them more grateful for their time together and 50% also say it’s improved their mom or dad’s mood, too.
- Nearly two-thirds (64%) report that their parents have a positive attitude about aging.
- Doing activities together has inspired their parents to be more active (35%), boosted their confidence (25%) and even made them more open to trying new things (30%).
- It’s good for the adult kids, too, as 40% have learned something about their parent’s youth that surprised them, including that their parent was married before they tied the knot with their mom or dad (14%), was in the military (12%) or that they were friends with a celebrity (4%) - one respondent’s parent was a pal of Elvis!
- Just over half (51%) say they now realize the lessons their parents taught them growing up are valuable, while 25% say they’ve learned they’re more similar to their parents than they thought.
Parents Are Naming Their Kids After ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Encanto’ Characters
Parents get inspiration for baby names from the world around them. Sure, you can go the traditional route or come up with a unique name totally on your own. But pop culture, current events and hit shows and movies have made certain names more popular. BabyCenter's baby naming experts analyzed the names of more than 400,000 babies born to BabyCenter parents in 2022. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, new parents' outlook on the world seems to be more positive with utopian names like Miracle, Alora (which means "dreamer") and Destiny being on the rise. That's also true of celestial names like Nova ("star"), Aurora (a nod to the northern lights) and Lyla ("night beauty"). This year, nature-inspired baby names associated with flowers, trees, and animals are all on the rise like Meadow (up 87 spots), Iris (up 24 spots), Juniper (up 40 spots) and Ivy (up 11 spots). On the other hand, there was a decline in names associated with celebrities who made headlines for all the wrong reasons last year like Will, Jada, Chris, Amber, Johnny, Elon, and Kanye.
BabyCenter also looked into some of the year's biggest releases from Disney and Marvel to see how their cult-like following has impacted parents’ decisions to name their children. It turns out, parents loved Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Oscar-winning animated movie Encanto as the inspiration behind their baby names. Following the release of both movies late last year, there was a sharp spike in babies registered with names of popular characters from the films.
See below the Spider-Man and Encanto character names that have soared in popularity in 2022:
Mirabel
The lead character’s name, Mirabel, catapulted up 500 spots.
Isabela
Up 134 spots.
Alma
Up 85 spots.
Julieta
Up 93 spots.
Bruno
Even the name Bruno, which had been falling in popularity since 2016, rebounded 50 spots since the film’s catchy song “We Don't Talk About Bruno" became a viral sensation. It turns out that people do talk about Bruno!
Zendaya
The name "Zendaya" jumped up 375 spots this year and is now in the top 500. The name has been slowly rising since this beloved star came onto the scene in 2012, but it sharply spiked in 2022 with the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which brought a steady stream of press coverage for the movie and Zendaya’s relationship with her co-star and own personal Spider-Man, Tom Holland.
Parker
Up 15 spots.
May
Up 126 spots.
Mary Jane
Up 1,294 spots.
Michelle
Up 47 spots.
Ned
Up 532 spots.
Otto
Up 65 spots.
