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One thing my Mom taught me is that when you child reaches around 14 years old, or around high school age, you have to stop coddling them. My parents started "be
by zw123456 12y ago
One thing my Mom taught me is that when you child reaches around 14 years old, or around high school age, you have to stop coddling them. My parents started "being mean" as my sister and I called it, when we got into high school. Later she told us it was on purpose and from love. She was right. I think this tradition has been forgotten, but it used to be conventional wisdom in that generation (my Parents are in their 80's). What we called "being mean" meant taking responsibility for yourself. For example, if you wanted to live in their house after age 18, they charged rent.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoThis, as well as a lot of things that are fine when economics is okay, makes zero sense when there's recession. I see a great number of commenters who don't understand that and therefore shovel blame around
- chondos 12y agoThe problem with your argument is that this trend has been going on for over 20 years (Even during economic boons). Certainly the numbers jumped when the economy tanked, but the numbers were already growing steadily. The point is that the problem transcends the economy. It is most definitely largely a social issue. How many boomerang kids did we see during the great depression? How about the recession in the 70s? Very few when comparing the numbers to today.
- hnal943 12y agoYour comment embodies the millennial stereotype. There's a recession, therefore I can't be successful. The economy doesn't improve by magic, we need people creating wealth. And that may not be in their chosen field.
- _delirium 12y agoI don't think it's a very scientific approach to recommend that we focus on "drive" and "gumption" or something, rather than systemic analysis, when we want to understand economic behavior. Even sports have more or less given up their previously obsessive focus on "gut" and "clutch" and "will", in the face of sabermetrics.
- hnal943 12y agoAnd yet players still perform much better the year their contract is up. Motivation plays a role. If we want to look at the larger economic climate that's fine, but it's tautologically true that we can't solve unemployment if people refuse to work.
- scott_s 12y agoI think you're missing the larger observation: the expectation that children will move out of their parents homes around age 18 may have been a temporary phenomenon. I find it strange that some people would rather assume that an entire generation is uniquely incompetent, rather than assume that they're pretty much like all other human generations, but the environment in which they live has changed.
- hnal943 12y agoI don't believe that this generation is uniquely incompetent, nor do I believe that they are uniquely hampered from succeeding. I would be more swayed to your point that this is some sort of cultural shift towards multi-generational households if there weren't so much angsty finger-pointing from self-appointed millennial spokespeople.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoYou can be successful. I am. You just can't expect someone to be successful without giving them a hand. Outside of a few privileged areas like IT.
- hga 12y agoMaybe it's just because my parents were born in the '30s, and experienced the Great Depression and WWII, and I came of age in the dreadful '70s, but it was always a given for me an my siblings that hard times might come again. You need reserves (which include living with the parents, if that's possible), contingency plans---hmmm, both me the eldest and my following sister had to exercise those---etc.
- scott_s 12y agoDid you read the article? If so, how does your comment apply considering the economic realities presented in it?