Let's Talk About: 9/11 Memories & Our Globally Connected Gen Alpha Kids

The first Gen Alpha kids were born on January 1st, 2010—exactly 8 years, 3 months, 21 days after this world-changing event.

Welcome! We’re a community of parents and caretakers navigating the ups and downs of raising humans born in 2010-2024. Generation Alpha kids are incredibly diverse, digitally native, globally connected, dedicated to inclusivity, and care deeply about climate activism. Click here to join the conversations and find the support you need.

It has been a while since I thought about what 9/11 means to us as Americans, 22 years later. But today, all I can think about is: What will my globally connected 3.5-year-old learn about this historic event at school? And will that be enough?

I’ll spare you the gory details because I am sure you have plenty of your own, but my 9/11 story began when I waved goodbye to New York City at 8 p.m. on the evening of September 10th, 2001.

I had just started my sophomore year of high school and was looking forward to next spring when I would turn 15 and get my driver’s permit. But before that, we had a family trip.

My Russian mom and Cuban dad had just become U.S. Citizens the year before, and my brother and I had been officially naturalized through them this year. My family all received our U.S. Passports in August 2001… and a month later, we flew to visit my babushka and dedushka living outside of Moscow. It was, well, a mess.

Today, I am married to the guy smiling in this traditional top-of-the-Empire-State-Building photo taken during our first trip to NYC back in September 2016. New York City was my home for 12 years. I left the city a few months prior because I needed to focus on my recovery from alcohol use disorder and figure out how to stay sober for the long haul.

Seven years later, I’m (almost effortlessly) sober, married, and parenting a Gen Alpha child.

FYI: Generation Alpha kids are incredibly diverse, digitally native, globally connected, dedicated to inclusivity, and care deeply about climate activism.

Almost every year, my husband and I turn to each other and say: Can you believe how many kids have been born since 9/11? Now that one of those kids is our own, it feels even weirder. And it is feeling especially odd this year because Rio’s language and understanding of the world are exploding daily.

So here is the question I have for my fellow parents of Generation Alpha kids—some of whom are still being born and all of whom were born after the events and the aftermath of September 11th, 2001:

What do you hope your kids will learn about 9/11 in their schools? And what do you want to teach them about this historic event at home?

---

Talk soon,
Irina (she/her) - raising a Gen Alpha kid born in March 2020