Posted on 05/02/2005 8:31:54 AM PDT by qam1
I'm tired of reading this bull about my generation not wanting to grow up. The "quarter life crisis" as it's called is simple laziness and a lack of drive.
I'm 24 and have been working full time for 2 years. I graduated college in 4 years - I had no choice since my scholarships ran out in 4 and not 5 years. It meant I took 6 classes a semester, but I did it. Yes, college was hard, but my degree enabled me to get a job that pays well and is usually pretty fulfilling.
My husband and I live about a half hour from our parents...I was chomping at the bit to move out once I started working and after two years of running my own daily life (cooking/cleaning/paying bills) I would NEVER want to go back home to live with my mom and dad. I love them very much, but I have my own life now.
People's parents need to stop coddling their adult children - tell Susie to get off her butt and get a job. I don't think I was that weird in finishing college, beginning my own life, and getting married - but apparently I am!
The boomers aren't paying for college so the kids can take their time to graduate, 5-7 years, and the parents don't care what they major in. We payed college for all of our 5 children, and they were private schools. I TOLD them not to waste our money and to major in serious fields. I TOLD them they had to get a job when they got out and to make as much money as we do, they'll have to go to graduate school. So now we have 2 nurses, 2 doctors, and 1 lawyer. We also payed for thier professional schools and gave them an allowance. They had to be accountable to us along the way and heed our advice or we weren"t going to pay! With college loans kids do not have to be accountable to anyone.
I also monitored their grades and IQ. If they wern't smart enough to go to college and major in a difficult field, I wanted to know. I didn't want to lie to them and spend money on college if I knew they couldn't handle it. If professional school was not an option, I would have told them to go into plumbling or open a business in an field they liked, etc. I wanted to know who they were and direct them where they would excell.
Boomers also make their high school kids pay for auto insurance. We paid for theirs, so they would be accountable to us at all times when in the cars. They had to get our permission to use the cars.
The Boomer's kids feel they aren't accountable to anyone especially with public schools and college loans. Also, many of these older children are living at home because the parents have alot of quilt due to divorce.
But staying close to the family and your parents is a good thing.
I'll keep you posted!!!
That has to have a lot to do with it - the electronics, automotive and "home improvement" industries have every 20 year old thinking he/she has to have a 60" plasma on the wall and a BMW in the driveway - MTV Cribs and whatnot.
Expectations and consumerism have driven credit card debt through the roof, so naturally the kid can't make it on an entry level income.
Turn on the TV, and you'll see 24x7 degradation of men. And we wonder why young men today are perpetual boys.
*shrug* After college, I lived on my own for a couple of years, then a much better job was available back home so I lived with Mom & Dad for a couple of years (no reason not to, really). Then I got married and moved away again. Don't know why it's such a big deal.
My brother had to live with my folks for a few months after college, and they charged him $400/month rent. I thought that was pretty funny.
God forbid these 20-somethings live with their families than burden the taxpayers by going on welfare.
Whereas all the seasoned citizens getting SS checks are on welfare.
I'll offer a thought here.
We are disquieted by this story because it departs from our sense of traditional norms.
The traditional norms, however, did not include a uniformly liberal set of university faculties nationwide who have made it their lives' work to increase their own pay far beyond the rate of inflation.
Who pays for that? Students, and an enormous amount of debt. That debt is what makes today's world different from "traditional norms". It's not about housing, or food or gasoline. It's about student debt. A bright young person today either goes into huge debt or he or she does not get a degree. Period.
That's a really tough choice.
As a society we have failed to emphasize critical values, like character, honor and discipline.
Instead, we glorify pop stars, actors and sports "heroes" that lack all of the above, whom our children associate with "success" - hard work is for losers.
I graduated from college and moved back home with my mother.
To start graduate school where I could get a part time job, pay for my own classes/books, and still earn my MA before joining the workforce. I saved a TON of money in what would have been student loans for living expenses, and I drove the same vehicle I had when I was 16.
If I had not gone back to school, I would have been independent though.
While I don't live in my parents' basement, I do live on a cabin in their property rent-free. It's a common sense way to recoup finances after college and frees up time to research & improve skills. Topcoder, here I come...
My #2 son graduated from high school at age 18 in 2001. Off to USMC boot camp a month later. He's a licensed real estate agent at age 22. He will finish his business degree in March 2006. He will have his broker's license in a couple months. He's has been self supporting since Nov 2001. The USMC provides some assistance for his college costs. He pays for most of it out of pocket.
I think we have a coddled generation of people who aren't trying very hard.
Sounds like the circle is slowly turning, and we're getting back to the days when it was normal for multi-generations to be living under one roof.
Is that so bad? Family supporting family? It's a good way to build family wealth, by sharing the same roof and putting some money (not all, understand) toward the "family" expenses.
I moved out of my parents' home (for all intents and purposes) when I went to college at age 18. The idea of moving back in with them has always rated about as highly as eating crushed glass.
You've just defined my vision of hell.
I just want to make it clear...
I don't live with my mother, my mother lives with me...
:-)
My parents are still helping me get through law school. I could not have gotten where I am without their help and sacrifices.
thank you! i'm glad you said it.
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