This going to strike a nerve, but here goes…
I know times are tough. I know people are losing their jobs and struggling. I know work is hard to find. I know things cost now more than they used to. I know all the rationale behind letting your adult children move back home with you.
Nonetheless, I don’t agree with it. It is my opinion that parents who allow their struggling twenty-somethings to move back home are doing them a disservice.
Yet, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal more than 14% of all workers aged 25-34 live with their parents. That’s up significantly over last year, and the numbers appear to increasing.
Yes, it’s more economically feasible to combine households. Yes, it brings families more closely together. Yes, it’s an easy solution to a complex problem. Add all of this up and it still doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do.
Providing a free home to a struggling young person isn’t strengthening them, and it sure isn’t strengthening the resolve of America.
Searching for a job and feeling economically challenged in the process builds character. You’ll never value a job if it lands in your lap. And you’ll never fully appreciate the feeling of spending yourself for a worthy cause unless you spend yourself for a worthy cause. And working hard to find work is about as worthy of a cause as there is.
Parents, don’t handicap your children by making life easy for them. Don’t fall prey to the popular helicopter parent syndrome.
And young job seekers, don’t give up and move back home. Get tough, get gritty, and be willing to say ‘yes’ to a job that pays your bills, even if you think it’s beneath you.
