Whether you’re laying odds on Lindsay Lohan’s release date from jail or “will she or won’t she” go directly to rehab, the LiLo situation has morphed into a provocative battle royale pitting the topic of parental engagement against entitlement to run amok.

The thought of a child – even adult child – tormented by substance abuse or locked away beyond reach and control, is a parent’s nightmare, particularly when played out on a national stage and in the dark edges of social media. So given the emotionally charged nature of the LiLo experience, it would be easy to assume that America’s parents are offering unvarnished perspectives about LiLo’s downward spiral and asking pointed questions.

But, if you listen in on the chatter and tweets of America’s Millennials, the “kids” born after 1980, you’ll find it’s LiLo’s contemporaries who are asking hard questions and tackling topics of coping mechanisms, parental engagement and judgment.  Millennials represent at least a quarter of the US population so in terms of sheer numbers, their opinion counts.

While being tethered to their peers through technology, Millennials actually like their parents and choose to spend time with them. Which is a good thing since the Great Recession has sent many of them boomeranging back into their parents homes. Appreciative and accustomed to the uber-support of a parent, it makes sense that it is the Millennials questioning the family structure of the embattled star and belly-gazing at their own definition of accountability and entitlement.

This week, The Today Show aired a segment about mothers who feel penalized in the workplace for having a family. The story focused on a mother who was terminated from her job as a result of an absence necessitated by a sick child. While that particular case was harsh, it underscores an interesting generation-based behavioral shift that is transforming America’s workforce.

GenX and Millennial mothers show great adeptness in their ability to customize a career and work style that best suits their family situation. They seem to grasp a concept that Baby Boomer moms struggled with – you can have it all but in bite-size pieces. Younger moms are neither apologetic nor guilt-ridden when taking time from their job to be with their children. They broadcast an enviable confidence and transparency in the expectation that employers will embrace their determined family-work balance. They embrace a lifestyle that allows them to create a day where time with children, friends and work is intertwined. Finishing a report at 11pm? E-mails at 6am? These women are the Energizer bunnies of the decade.

Is it that these young women saw first-hand the casualties their Baby Boomer mothers experienced in their attempts to have it all? Do they feel regret for their moms who felt they had no choice but to climb a rigid career ladder? Is there a twinge of resentment for a nation of latch-key kids? If nothing else, this segment underscores the lessons that parents can learn from the generations that come before and after that might ultimately help better integrate our working lives and family lives.