More 20-somethings depending on parents again

The Sun News ^ | 5/2/05 | Rick Montgomery

[Rytwyng]

But, is living in those kinds of places truely imperative? Does a typical housing decsion always have to be: $3500/month, 1200 sq. ft. loft in Manhattan vs. going back to mom and dad's? ....Couldn't that enterprising college graduate ...take an apartment farther away from the trendy spots?

Depends on the crime rate. When I was single, my folks would rather have me live at home, than in a neighborhood where I could get killed just for being white.

[dfwgator]

Sooner this age-long and correct custom is restored the better.

I agree.

[IronJack]

My mom raised my sister and I

Psssst. If you're a journalism major, you might want to make a note: it's "My mom raised my sister and ME." Objective case and all that.

Just a gentle reminder from a former editor.

[redgolum]

I do think that's what it's about when many people say they would NEVER consider living with their parents. They want to maintain an active "dating" (sex) life, and they want to party.

Not all of us. I didn't want to live with my parents because money was very tight for them. I was taught to take responsibility for my own life, and that included making my own way. I got a chem e degree, instead of history, because I realized that Chem E will pay the bills, and I can keep studying history!

[Dan from Michigan]

The voting age should be raised to 28 immediately.

Then everyone under 28 shouldn't pay any taxes or fees, including hunting licenses, sales taxes, property taxes, or income taxes.

If I can't vote against the schmucks that raise my taxes, then I won't pay a dime toward the boondoggle pyramid Social Insecurity scheme the FDR and LBJ people gave is.

[Maigrey]

Sorry. Been out of the family home since 18, and haven't missed it.

I love my Mom, and Dad, but I couldn't handle living with them again. (My husband wouldnn't like it either!)

[angelanddevil2]

Well, looks like in only one generation there has been a big jump in evolution. Our parents were able to make big, important decisions way younger than our generation. It turns out now that we are kids until the late 20's. Nonsense. It's much easier to say "that's the way I am and I can't change it" than train your will power and your sense of responsibility. This society is full of SPOILED BRATS.

[A. Pole]

I live in a neighborhood of immigrants, and their children are expected to live at home, until marriage or until they buy their own homes. Or, like my next door neighbors, the youngest kid married, stayed at home, and then purchased the parents out of their home. Now the parents pay the kid rent.

This is the normal age-long practice. Old parents stay with their grown up children, help around the house and help to take care of granchildren. As they get older and more frail, they get care from their descendants.

[Rytwyng]

It really has infected the culture - people who live with their folks, especially guys, are viewed as "creepy". ....you want a future strong family life with someone who will be loyal and devoted, wouldn't it be good to see those qualities actually DEMONSTRATED in someone you're dating?

The way a man treats his mother, is the way he'll treat his wife.

In defense of the shallow women who rejected me, however, I must say that SOME guys who live at home ARE dependent and pathetic. If they'd run across a few of those, it's not surprising that they'd be suspicious of any guy living at home.

But if they'd been openminded enough to take even 5 minutes to inquire, they'd have found that I did have a job, that I actually made enough money to live on my own if I wanted to, that I did my own laundry and food, and that my reasons for being at home were non-pathological.

My wife, of course, DID take the time to find out.

[LauraJean]

I have to agree with. Both my mom and dad lived at home till they got married. So did all my aunts and uncles. I was probably one of the first ones in my generation to move out before I got married. Many of my cousins stayed at home and built up a nest egg before they got married.

[angelanddevil2]

"Years ago people would marry younger but even then you had relatives real close"

You have your relatives really close if you are living with them. What about having a job and a life in the area where your parents live without living with them?.

I left my house 8 years ago, at the age of 25, right after I finished college; I went to a place where I had no network and no family; and I am talking Spain, way more difficult than here. I came here to the USA, I still have no network and no family (well, except for a son, but he can't help me financially).

The difference is that my parents always told me "you have to FIGHT for what you want and you have to have your OWN LIFE."

[redgolum]

If the only reason you are moving out is to drink till dawn and sleep you way around the STD circle, then you have problems that Mom and Dad should of taken care of well before you are 18!

My father stayed with his parents so he could farm. When my Dad got married, Grandpa and Grandma built a house just up the lane (much to the dismay of my Mother).

I think living under my Grandfather for 30 years is part of the reason Dad was so insistent on teaching us to make our own way. Of course my wife and I would love to live in the area again, and may move back in a few years, but we both agree we don't want to live withing 20 miles or so of either set of parents.

[Conservomax]

I'd imagine that this has to do with the idea that "everyone should go to college".

The government is more than happy to leand everybody 50K to go to school and collect interest for 20 years. The problem is all these kids have ridiculous debt. What doesn't help is the fact that you need 300k to buy a home these days.

[JimRed]

Too late.........sigh.

Yep, experience is a great teacher. My 29 year-old is back.

[hedgetrimmer]

Gone is the labor economy of high-paying factory jobs that once offered a lifetime of security after high school

Thanks to "free trade" "open borders" and the wisdom of our leaders to push the United States (without consent of the governed) into a "service economy" while using US tax dollars to build infrastructure in foreign countries so business can "outsource" and "offshore" without any financial risk-taking on their own.