Adultescents and kidults and twixters - Oh My!

[Hostile_Dialect]

@Mr2001

So, let’s see. For the first 18 years of their lives, kids are told, “You can’t make your own decisions because you don’t know how to act in your own best interest. We’ll take care of everything for you, whether you like it or not.” The government takes every opportunity to enforce what should be house rules on kids, even when they aren’t at home. And now we’re surprised when these kids don’t suddenly start taking care of themselves the moment they turn 18? Maybe we should’ve let them practice first.

Amen!

[Mister_Rik]

@Manda JO

Another possible reason for the gender imbalence is that in our homophobic society, women are more likely to live with a same-sex roommate, and that makes moving out more economically feasible.

I’ve thought about this very thing. I’m straight, and share a 3-bedroom house with another straight man. We had an extra empty bedroom, and put out ads for another male roommate, and the response was abysmal. It wasn’t that other guys didn’t like the rental agreement - they simply weren’t calling about the ad at all.

Meanwhile, we were getting one call after another from women, despite the ad specifiying “male”. That led me to wonder if women are less likely to worry about what Mom & Dad will think of them living with someone of the opposite sex.

Also, I think guys feel more pressure to “support themselves”, so don’t want to move out until they feel capable of doing so by whatever standard they’ve learned.

@Mr2001

So, let’s see. For the first 18 years of their lives, kids are told, “You can’t make your own decisions because you don’t know how to act in your own best interest. We’ll take care of everything for you, whether you like it or not.” The government takes every opportunity to enforce what should be house rules on kids, even when they aren’t at home. And now we’re surprised when these kids don’t suddenly start taking care of themselves the moment they turn 18? Maybe we should’ve let them practice first.

Exactly. Hey, let’s legislate maturity higher and higher! Instead of calling them adults at 13, let’s give them five more years to get used to being immature and irresponsible, and make it that much harder for them to adjust to adult responsibility!

There’s also this problem: People live too damn long nowadays. It used to be that a young person could look forward to receiving his inheritance at a reasonably young age - giving him at least a small stake upon which he could build his own wealth. But now, my grandparents lived so long that my own parents didn’t receive any inheritance until they were almost retirement age themselves. As far as my own inheritance, my parents sold their house and property and bought a travel trailer, and now they tool around the country. I get to look forward to maybe another 25 years from now, when I’m 65, inheriting a 1/3 share (along with two sisters) in a pickup truck and fifth-wheel trailer. Woo. Hoo.

[Giles]

On a personal note, my family has an unusual twist to this. Six years ago, my wife and I moved out of the house that we lived in in Australia, and that our children grew up in. During those six years, alkl of our four children have lived in that house at various times while we lived in the US, and currently our oldest and youngest still live there (Though the oldest has spent some time away from the nest). As I like to say, typical story, the kids grow up, the parents move out, leaving the kids at home

(Though the other two have moved to other places, including one to England, where he currently lives).