Between Two Worlds: The Generational Gap in Migrant Families

Migration does not only move individuals across borders—it also reshapes families. Parents and children often experience migration in profoundly different ways, creating an invisible distance between them;

"Between Two Worlds: The Generational Gap in Migrant Families".

For parents, the new country may feel like exile. They carry memories, language, and traditions that anchor them to the homeland. Every difference in the new culture can feel like a threat to what they are trying to preserve. For children, however, the same country is not exile—it is home. They grow up fluent in its language, shaped by its values, and eager to belong.

This difference can create a silent generational gap. Parents may feel their children are “forgetting where they come from,” while children may feel their parents “don’t understand the world they live in.” Love remains, but it is crossed by frustration, guilt, and sometimes shame.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, these tensions are more than cultural. They touch the deepest layers of identity and belonging. The child may feel torn: loyal to the parents’ past, yet pulled toward their own present. The parent may feel betrayed, not only by their child, but also by time itself—by the inevitability of change.

Yet, within this conflict lies possibility. The very tension between past and present can become fertile ground for dialogue. Children can carry forward not only the weight of their parents’ sacrifice, but also the richness of their heritage. Parents, in turn, can witness how their children are re-rooting the family story in new soil.

The generational gap, while painful, is also a space of transformation. It asks both sides to grieve what cannot be shared, and to discover what new forms of connection are still possible.

If you find yourself navigating this distance—whether as a parent or as a child—therapy can offer a space to make sense of these silent struggles and to find new ways of relating.