Nearly Half of All Young Adults Live With Mom and Dad — and They Like It

I think a lot of older people, specifically boomers and the Silent Gen people still living (most of them in our government) don't seem to realize is that things for younger millennials, Gen Z and probably Gen A aren't the same as they were for you guys. Especially boomers. Boomers got everything handed to them by Silent Gen and then they pulled up the ladder and said "F*you" to Gen X and Millennials.

My oldest brother joined the Army at 19. He stupidly listened to a friend and got out after 3 years and stayed in Florida. Things didn't work out for him. He came back home and lived with our dad for a bit to get himself on his feet again. My dad let him and he had to pay his share of bills. My dad has always said we are welcome to come back whenever we need to.

Parenting doesn't necessarily stop at 18. You don't stop being a parent at 18. I'm not advocating people let their kids mooch off them forever. No. There's a difference between enabling your children and helping them.

My daughter will graduate at 17. If she decides she doesn't want to go to college right away, oh well. She'll have to get a job (and probably will have one by then anyway) and contribute sure. But I'm not just tossing her out the minute she turns 18. Hopefully I can instill in her enough sense and values that she'll be able to take care of herself once she does leave. The only way she wouldn't stay with me is if she's like her dad - actively using drugs (which realistically will probably kill her as she's on meds from her transplant for the rest of her life), if she's not working, stealing, etc. Then no I wouldn't.

Some cultures, it's just this way. When we lived in Hawaii, there were many families that were multi-generational. Lots of benefits, our family has been doing the multi-generational living since 2010. It has some drawbacks, but the benefits outweigh the cost, at least in our home. We have four generations (12 people) in our farm home. Everyone contributes where they can.

Pay wall, so cannot read.
Wanted to see who the "they" is. Because I am betting it is NOT Mom and Dad.

I left home when I was 17 to go to college. From that moment on, I was always welcome to go home - and VISIT. It was very clear that I was now responsible for myself.

Don't get me wrong, my parents helped me out a ton. Free laundry whenever I visited during college (they even let me use their detergent!), plus I could sleep in the spare room, instead of a hotel. (Of course, it cost more in gas for the round trip than I saved in laundry money.) And they would always toss a couple meals in me and usually even send me back with leftovers.

And as I transitioned into the military, they sent care packages in Basic and during deployments, and even helped do legwork to tie up my financial loose ends while I was in basic.

They co-signed my student loans. They bought my first car for me.

But once I was out of the house, it was no longer my home.

Before I went off to college, my uncle retired from the Navy. He lived in our basement for about 3 or 4 months while he transitioned and re-established his civilian life (bought a home, found a job, etc.) So it is not that my parents were unwilling to help out. It was just VERY obvious what the expectation was. I am sure if I had ever been truly homeless with nowhere to live, and no money to rent, my parents would have let me live with them. I am equally sure I would live in a homeless shelter before I ever let them down that much by asking to move back in.