While this statement certainly plays into the "don't blame me, blame my parents" quip I mentioned above, there's actually quite a bit of truth here... not that parents are to blame (any more than any other generations of parents ruining their kids... GUILTY here!), but there is a BIG difference in the way Boomers, GenX and Millennials grew-up:
Boomers and X'ers share one thing in common. When school was over, you got home, dropped your books, said "Hi" to Mom at the same time you were saying "Bye" and you were out the door as she was yelling "Be home at 5:00 for dinner!" After dinner and clearing the table, Mom's next shouted instructions were "be home before dark!"
Your social cues were learned and earned on your own. You fought your own battles. There was a neighborhood, and there was a pecking order in the neighborhood. You won on your own, you lost on your own, you grew equally from pleasure and pain. The word "No" was an acceptable member of the vocabulary. I think it would be hard to argue this childhood socialization phenomena helped prepare young adults for the workforce, a.k.a., the "real" world.
Certainly, times have changed. I think about this often: I don't drop my kids off at practice... I sit and watch practice. When did that change? Parents accompany kids to the school bus stop, and greet their kids at the bus stop after school. Chaperone's at bus stop??!!! Kids don't have the opportunity to fight their own battles anymore; Mom and Dad are there, constantly, helicoptering. Is it Mom & Dad's fault? The kids fault? Hard to argue blame/fault... it just is.
But there have been consequences.