> Personally, I don't think I'd _ever_ trade money for the freedom and fraternization that can happen when you leave home and start spending money :) I feel ex

> Personally, I don't think I'd _ever_ trade money for the freedom and fraternization that can happen when you leave home and start spending money :) I feel exactly the same way, I moved out really early. That said, I think there is a good way to have multiple generations under the same roof. I know a guy, an executive, who lives under his parents' roof with his wife, son, and daughter. It's large enough, they eat together a lot of times, the mother and wife split the chores, and his parents love their grandkids. Babysitters are always available. Both the guy and his father are hardcore business types, the father is a college dropout entrepreneur, the son has an MBA. I gather there's some friction sometimes, it seems to work pretty well. That's in Japan, though the same thing happens in a lot of Asia, and to a much lesser extent, the Mediterranean countries still a little bit. Family ties are a lot closer - I remember being in Italy and thinking how cool it was when I saw grandfather/father/son all eating together quite a lot out at a restaurant, having some guy's time. So, I agree with you, especially the way parenting/freedom in the West works. But I'm personally going to try to keep my home in such a way that the kids feel welcome for a long time - ideally they are independent enough to self-emancipate quite young, but can come back and feel very comfortable at home even as they get into later adulthood. A hard balance to strike and tradeoffs involved, but good if can be gotten down well.