Between the ages of thirty and sixty the critical decision is whether to give parental care to others of a younger generation or whether to stagnate in self-indulgence. The successful resolution to this crisis is the development of the power of caring.

Generativity is the word for active concern for the next generation. This is not the same as having children. Some people who have children have little concern for them or for the world in which they live; they consider their children to be like attractive jewels for them to show off, or beasts of burden to be put to work doing chores.

Parents like this do not think about the human species as a whole. They do not accept the importance of children in the growth of a community, the importance of children playing, or the importance of children being with peers so that they can develop more social competence. They do not care about the next generation. Their primary concern is for themselves.

Sometimes when children grow up, move out of the home, and do not need their parents to the degree they did as children, the parents sink into depression. They suffer from identity confusion because their identity has been too closely associated with taking care of the family.

You don’t have to give birth to children to offer the care that is characteristic of generativity. Working with young people, being a good role model, or taking an active interest in the lives of young friends are all efforts at caring for the next generation. And, of course, those who care for the future of our planet—environmentalists, for example—are showing concern for the next generation.

Care is an ever-widening concern for others, not just family members. It may or may not involve physical caring out of a sense of duty. It does involve action. Truly concerned people who care are powerful people. They put their caring into action. They become involved in issues of social change and acknowledge people’s rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They have a healthy need to be needed, and a need to leave the world a better place for having been a part of its growing and healing.

When people are not willing to be involved in generativity by showing care for the next generation, they often find others are not concerned about them. Not caring, they become stagnant like marsh water without movement. They are progressively less interested in others, locked into self-absorption, self-pity, or self-adoration. Frequently their only concern is for their own satisfaction, physical health, or financial wealth.

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