It came to me when I was driving back from gymnastics.

No, I wasn’t rocking the balance beam; our granddaughter was.

As I took a break from thinking “I never got to take gymnastics, and my mother or grandmother didn’t cart me around all over town for fun and rewarding activities,” I realized something: These parents, moms especially, apparently have cracked the code on what my generation longingly referred to as “having it all.”

If you’re a grandparent, you get this, but I’ll say it anyway: I finally understand the car tags I used to see saying, “Let Me Tell You About My Grandchildren.”

What I didn’t get then, and just recently have come to understand, is how well today’s young parents are doing with their children. And there’s a lot to understand.

First, these parents work. According to the U.S. Census, about 23 million mothers are in the work force. These moms are better educated than most workers, the Census Bureau says. Of those older than 25, nearly half have college degrees — and the salaries to match.

Maybe it’s because they grew up in a time when both parents worked; thus, for them, working women are more the norm than the exception. When I was a young mother, my mother-in-law lamented, “I’ll be glad when little Frances doesn’t have to work all the time.” No doubt she said this when I was working late, which was often. I didn’t let on that I wanted to work, and that I liked it.

Today, with a little boost from laptops and the internet, moms routinely churn out the work and take care of their children at the same time.

It must take a lot of stamina. I see these young mothers with their children hauling enough overloaded backpacks and baby equipment to send a more compact traveler around the world. They unfold strollers and what we used to call “play pens” to set little Junior up in style. These gadgets are more complicated that my first car, and a whole lot better than the rickety contraptions I utilized to transport or confine our two children.

Fathers can take credit, too. When I have lunch with our son and he orders coffee with his meal, I know he’s been up much of the night with one or both of his children. (His father, on the other hand, regularly put in an Oscar-winning performance of pretending to be sound asleep when our son or his sister would stir.)

Sure, I hear the complaints about today’s parents, such as: Their children spend all their time with their noses stuck in a tablet or a cell phone. They don’t play outside or ride their bikes all over town, and they’re missing the simple joys of childhood.

But child rearing is something that changes all the time, just like every other aspect of life. My grandmother’s generation told children’s stories about bad little kids who contracted terrible diseases for their trouble.

My parents’ generation — if you believe the old magazine ads — plied their babies with Coca-Cola. You just put the stuff in Junior’s bottle, and he would happily suck away on that sweet, sweet beverage. No matter that it might rot his teeth.

As I see today’s children grow, I see parents who engage the world they live in and have fun with their kids. Our society has produced a generation of moms and dads who work together like my generation never did — and that’s what it takes.

Despite the news stories about “deadbeat dads” and mothers who prefer their drug habits to their children, most of these families are doing just fine.

I have a young friend who is the mother of several children. She’s smart and accomplished and is a stay-at-home mom while her kids are small. I cringe when I think how hard it must be for her to manage. There were five of us when I grew up, and I know how much work children are. Still, when I see how she does it, and how much pleasure she and her husband and her children take in each other, it gives me comfort.

A 19th century poem says, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” And when I consider today’s young mothers and fathers and the job they do, I turn away from the memes and stories about abuse, the mythical childhood of the past and the screeching news feeds.

When you look at these parents, you’ll see that we’re going to be just fine. 

Frances Coleman is a former editorial page editor of the Mobile Press-Register. Email her at [email protected] and “like” her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.