Never liked gatekeeping over "decade-kid" labels towards much younger people

Bit of a long one, so I apologize...

Many of the times, I've tried to avoid gatekeeping younger people over who gets to feel acquainted with the "2000s kid" label. Whether it's on Reddit or anywhere else on the internet. I'm 31 (1994) years old, a father of two kids, and at this age, the idea gatekeeping and arguing with 21/20 - 18 year olds (teenagers, really) on the internet over a label is just embarrassing chronically-online behaviour, IMO.

If someone born in 2003, 2005 or even 2006 wants to be acquainted with the label, it doesn't bother me. If someone has fond memories of being a kid in any time in the 2000s, by all means I encourage them to cherish those memories.

Generations are already vague, labels even more so. I personally never like the idea of gatekeeping and making someone feel bad over a label to the point they have to invalidate their own memories and experiences because of some dumb thing online that, honestly, doesn't bring any meaningful benefit to their life offline in the real world.

The world is bleak enough as it is. End of the day, people participating in such a thing are, in essence, just trying to cherish their early childhood innocence and share their own fond experiences here. It's just so shitty (especially if you're a whole adult in your 20s/30s/40s) to try and make a younger person feel bad just because they were 4 or 6 years old in a particular year.

Nostalgia is nice, but too much of it also leaves me feeling empty and displaced. I personally try and avoid building my whole identity of a time I can never relive. 2020s has its downs, but I also cherish the present that I am living right now with my wife and kids and try to create new fond memories with people I love and care about today.