Baby boomers get a bad rap. They don’t understand current pregnancy trends or how millennials parent their babies (even though their own child-rearing habits were pretty out there), they’re ridiculed for their “Live, Laugh, Love” signs and their overuse of ellipses, and they’ve been blamed for everything from ignoring climate change to ransacking the country’s economy. But what is this generation really about? And is all this contempt truly fair? Here, we take a look at some of the most defining baby boomer characteristics to find out more about this mega cohort that is as frequently mocked as it is misunderstood.