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It isn't even so much finding employment, it's building a credit history. Both of my two very recent college graduates are working. They don't have enough of a credit history to get a lease on their own without a co-signer. We signed for one, the other chose to come back home.
It doesn't alarm me because many 18 year olds are still in high school, and many live at home while attending community college. I won't be one to kick them out on their 18th b-day. 18-34 is a wide range. There is a big difference.
I think 18 through 34 is too broad of an age gap to conduct a survey / study like that. Many, many 18 years olds are still in school of one sort or another and living at home during that time is the wisest choice for some.
As an example: my son turned 18 in early May, he will leave for college in August...so for those few months he would add to that 33% of 18 to 34 years olds that live at home.
I would think it would be more accurate to look at the 25 - 34 year old range (as stated by another poster). By 25, most adult children have gotten on their feet and moved on / moved out (I would hope so anyway).
Yes, I think so too -- even in the past it wasn't unusual to find 18 to 21 year olds living with their parents. It was common enough for 21 to 25 year olds to be living with their parents.
I think by including those under 25, they can make it seem worse than what it is.
Very interesting! My daughter has just finished her freshman year of college and is home for the summer. I have no problem with that and things are pretty much the same as they have been in prior years (no paying rent, she works and is responsible for her personal needs and wants) but I'm not sure how I'd feel if she came back three or four years from now and wanted to live at home. I think if she (or any of my children) was truly financially struggling I would be OK with it (with certain stipulations of course), but I do think it's important it's important for young adults to learn to be independent. Living at home to amass money instead of spending it to stand on your own two feet would probably be a no-go, though.
That being said, I'm still a few years away from this issue. What does the collective mind of the parenting forum think about this high % of young adults living at home, and if you have had an adult come back to live with you, what were the 'rules'? Why were they back? Were you OK with it?
I have been reading lots of articles like this. I know lots of young adults (18-early 20s) who are living with parents because they are still in school. I also know quite a few young adults who moved in with their parents after college graduation until they got started. However, most move out within a year or two. I don't doubt that there is some trend out there somewhere but I just don't see it around here.
As far as my own kids, they are welcome to live at home as young adults. While they are in college we don't expect them to pay rent. While they are home they are expected to help with normal household things. We don't have a bunch of rules. The only thing I ask of them is that they participate in the household when they live here and that they let us know when they will be gone.
My daughter is only a baby, but I hope when the time comes that she lives at home while in college (grad school too) so we both can save money on her college expenses. Most of my student loan debt was for living expenses.
Beyond college, if she's saving for a home or something I would have no problem with it. But, I grew up living with my grandmother and mother/daughter homes were pretty typical.
It doesn't alarm me because many 18 year olds are still in high school, and many live at home while attending community college. I won't be one to kick them out on their 18th b-day. 18-34 is a wide range. There is a big difference.
Agreed. I suspect that my kiddos may need some extra time in the nest before being totally independent. My son is a bit delayed so I do have some concerns about this. Community college may very well be a first step for both of them. Fortunately we have a top notch one very close to us.
With that said, if they are adults and living at home, there will be some rules. I won't play maid for them. They should be independent and capable of doing their own dishes, wash, picking up after themselves, etc. My house won't be a pig sty either---really trying to enforce that now and we have some work to do on that front. My house, my rules.
I think the 'report' is pretty low on data. For one thing, there is no indication of how long the adult kids have been (or intend to be) living with mom and dad. For many it's quite temporary.
I have 2 adult children. One moved back home for 1 year when her husband was deployed to another country for that year. We set up the 'rules' ahead of time and it went quite well. We knew how long it would last and when her husband returned she moved back out.
Other child has moved back a couple of times for very short periods ( 1 month to 6 weeks) when the economy tanked and she was jobless. Her rules were slightly different, mostly because her financial circumstances were different. Also, she wanted to move back out as soon as feasible and worked toward that end. She had been out of our house for at least 7 years at that point and enjoyed her independence. She is living on her own now and doing very well.
I know a number of prople with kids who returned home shortly after graduation only to give them time to find a job in their field. All of those kids had moved out and were on their own within a year.
You're right, it's low on data. There was a thread about this on Politics that was broken down into smaller age groups. The number living at home definitely goes down with age. And in the olden days, say, prior to the sixties, most unmarried women lived at home forever. Most young adults lived at home until marriage, be it at 18 or 34.
I provided a link with the numbers for 25-34. Its 13,9%
Thanks! I think it's probably lower for 30-34 than for 25-29, too.
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