Meet Future Mum 2035
The next generation of parents will be from the much-discussed Gen Z. How will the world that they have grown up in shape their views of parenting? What societal trends will impact the choices they make when it comes to raising children? And what what are the implications for baby and toddler brands?
Midjourney’s idea of a mum in 2035
We interviewed some 16-28 year olds to find about their hopes and expectations for the future. And we dug into lots of existing reports and data sources to construct a picture of parenting in the 2030s.
So let’s step into the future. With all the usual caveats about the foolishness of predictions and the stupidity of generalisations, we’re going to take an imaginative leap into 2035. Say hello to Future Mum 2035. Say hello to Chloe.
1. She won’t impose labels on her child
Chloe was the most popular name in the UK for girls born in 2002 - and she hates it. Chloe wanted to choose a gender-neutral name for her baby and thought back to her first Glastonbury, aged 17, when Billie Eilish’s headline set changed her life. Like most of her generation, she sees gender and identity as fluid and has a strong aversion to imposing any kind of normative stereotypes on her child. She disappointed her mum when she refused to have a gender reveal party, and throughout her pregnancy, found the question “is it a boy or a girl’ somewhat offensive.
Implication for brands: Gendered-products and communication are likely to be even more divisive in the future. Tread carefully.
2. Chloe has postponed having kids
Chloe is 33. Which will be the average age of a first-time mum in 2035 if the upward trend that started in 1974 continues. Already in 2022, the average is 31 (and 34 for men) and it is more common for women to have a baby in their 40s than as a teenager.
Chloe doesn’t remember a world without YouTube. She was 10 when the London Olympics happened and had her university experience decimated by Covid. As an older parent, she has more life experience to pass on to her children and studies have suggested her children are more likely to have a stable, healthy upbringing and fewer developmental issues.
Implication for brands: Wiser older parents are more confident in their opinions and likely to reject any brand that is dogmatic, worthy or patronising.
3. She started motherhood with little money and without owning a home.
During her twenties, Chloe focused on her career as a data engineer, traveled, ticked off experiences…and found herself in debt at the age of 30. Even in 2022, 38% of 25-34 year olds are in debt and 43% spend more than they earn. But Chloe has also lived through the “lost decade” of the 2020s, with persistent high inflation, 10% interest rates and the UK once again described as the “sick person of Europe’. Like most of her friends, she doesn’t own a house and is not sure she ever will. By 2035, at current trends, the average first time buyer will be 34.
“I moved into my own place in April but I’ve had to borrow money again this month just to pay rent. I do get student finance and part housing benefit but it’s not enough to pay everything.”
Implication for brands: Savvy parents will look for value for money and opportunities to share, rent and reuse baby equipment.
4. Billie is an only child
Chloe won’t have another child, and Billie will be one of millions of only-children in the UK. The myth of the nuclear family with 2.4 children is already ancient history, and implications for parenting are profound as ‘one-and-done’ parents pour all their love, support, hopes and dreams into a single child. Just as well, because Chloe is not expecting much support from her aging Gen X parents, currently reliving their hedonistic youth in an upscale resort in Goa.
Implication for brands: First-time mums are more information-hungry and willing to invest time and effort in finding the right solutions for their child.
5. Chloe is worried about being perfect
Chloe is already worried that she won’t be a good enough mum. She has felt the pressure to be ‘perfect’ from a young age and now aspires to give Billie the perfect childhood. More than previous generations, Gen Z believe it is important to be a perfect mum, and it is not surprising that Chloe is anxious after a childhood that started with a global financial crisis, lurched through the culture wars and culminated with lockdowns in her first two years of University. In fact 79% of Gen Z mums in 2022 say they are wrestling with anxiety and more than half of children born from now will have a mother who has experienced mental illness (University of Manchester). Source: What to Expect
Implication for brands: Ensure communications don’t set normative standards that further increase pressure on parents. Embrace the wonderfully messy and emotional realities of parenting.
“While many of these children are very resilient, these children are more likely to suffer from a range of negative life outcomes, including poorer physical and mental health, lower educational attainment and reduced quality of life.”
6. Chloe wants to be a mindful parent
Perhaps because of the greater awareness of mental health, Chloe is determined to be more emotionally connected to her child than she was to her parents. She has always tried to be mindful of the choices and relationships in her life and not just be swept along by convention and convenience. And she believes the most important thing she can do is be a mindful parent; one that understands and values their child’s autonomy and is fully present in the moments of their upbringing.
Implication for brands: Be an ally not a teacher. More empathy, less guidelines.
“Your lifestyle is your deathstyle. I’m determined to make conscious, positive and mindful choices about my life.”
7. She will know about Billie’s health in real time
Like everyone in 2035, Chloe is obsessed with wellness monitoring and throughout her pregnancy had a constant stream of notifications on everything from skin ph, hormone levels, baby heart rate and glucose levels.
Chloe did find it a little disconcerting to learn from Billie’s prenatal gene-scan that she was 13.7% more likely to have asthma, and her predicted life expectancy was only 87. But that only confirmed Chloe’s intuition that she will pass on her own plant-based diet to her child. When she thinks about all that cows milk her parents fed her she shudders. How could people have thought that was OK,? she wonders, reaching for a flava bean snack.
Implication for brands: Always do the right thing with personal data. It can be helpful and charming, but also disturbing and alarming.
8. Chloe will be the first cyborg mum
Chloe taps the digital tattoo on her arm, and asks her personal AI: “show me the best plant-based foods for weaning? And she flips through the Augmented Reality display of fruits, vegetables and real-time nutritional analysis that has appeared in virtual space on her kitchen top, she uses her Neuralink to silently instruct her AI to start growing lab-veg in her home-replicator….
…OK, we’ve veered into the crazy world of future tech prediction now. Almost none of this is likely to happen. Let’s be a little more realistic…
8. Chloe embraces new media
When it comes to tech, we really never know what will fly and what won’t. We just know people will access information and experiences in ways that are convenient and rewarding. Who would have thought 20 years ago that parents would be listening to audio content at all, let alone in the form of in-depth, long form Podcasts about the intricacies of baby wellbeing.
What we can be sure of is that content will continue to beat ads in the attention game. Already in 2022, this generation spend 68% of media time online. In 2035, Chloe spends more time on her device than she does sleeping, and relies on tech to support her parenting more than the now middle-aged millennials ever did. Where Gen X parents asked Google everything and Millennials sought answers on social media, Chloe taps into the the proliferation of AIs. She still has the same concerns as previous generations about whose advice to trust, so she gravitates to trusted influencers who now present AI-versions of themselves.
One night, when Billie is crying and Chloe doesn’t know what to do, she has a conversation with the avatar of one of her favourite Threaders, RealMum. She likes the fact that she is less judgemental than the other virtual-mums and they can just have a bit of laugh together. But, still, her favourite source of help and advice is other mums. And Chloe meets up with her NCT group in Costa every Thursday just as generations before her have done.
Implication for brands: Content is king, but experimenting with new channels will provide disproportionate rewards for the brave and lucky ones.
It’s been fascinating to speculate about Chloe. The world in 2035 will be very different to today. And yet, much of it will no doubt feel familiar too. There are so many more aspects of Chloe’s life that we could explore. We’ve barely touched on parental leave, nappies, sustainability, education and so much more.
I’d love to hear what you think might be in store for our Future Mum, Chloe.
