What Is It About 20-Somethings?

 

This question pops up everywhere, underlying concerns about “failure to launch” and “boomerang kids.” Two new sitcoms feature grown children moving back in with their parents — “$#*! My Dad Says,” starring William Shatner as a divorced curmudgeon whose 20-something son can’t make it on his own as a blogger, and “Big Lake,” in which a financial whiz kid loses his Wall Street job and moves back home to rural Pennsylvania. A cover of The New Yorker last spring picked up on the zeitgeist: a young man hangs up his new Ph.D. in his boyhood bedroom, the cardboard box at his feet signaling his plans to move back home now that he’s officially overqualified for a job. In the doorway stand his parents, their expressions a mix of resignation, worry, annoyance and perplexity: how exactly did this happen?

 

It’s happening all over, in all sorts of families, not just young people moving back home but also young people taking longer to reach adulthood overall. It’s a development that predates the current economic doldrums, and no one knows yet what the impact will be — on the prospects of the young men and women; on the parents on whom so many of them depend; on society, built on the expectation of an orderly progression in which kids finish school, grow up, start careers, make a family and eventually retire to live on pensions supported by the next crop of kids who finish school, grow up, start careers, make a family and on and on. The traditional cycle seems to have gone off course, as young people remain un­tethered to romantic partners or to permanent homes, going back to school for lack of better options, traveling, avoiding commitments, competing ferociously for unpaid internships or temporary (and often grueling) Teach for America jobs, forestalling the beginning of adult life.

 

More below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?_r=3

It's not only 20 somethings.  Hell my brother and his five kids live with my parents!

I've been reading that on and off but I haven't made it all the way through yet. I skipped to  the comments which are pretty venomous from both sides. I really didn't have that post college "discovery" period ( I had a kid less than 12 months after commencement) but I always thought you were suppose to get that out of your system in college. LivinMog with your parents until you are 35 isn't acceptable unless you are an Italian momma's boy. :)

( I had a kid less than 12 months after commencement)

 

I thought kids came out 9 months after commmencement...

 

Take my wife, please.

I've been reading that on and off but I haven't made it all the way through yet. I skipped to  the comments which are pretty venomous from both sides. I really didn't have that post college "discovery" period ( I had a kid less than 12 months after commencement) but I always thought you were suppose to get that out of your system in college. LivinMog with your parents until you are 35 isn't acceptable unless you are an Italian momma's boy. :)

 

My Mom didn't want me to move out.

( I had a kid less than 12 months after commencement)

 

I thought kids came out 9 months after commmencement...

 

 

Too drunk that night! I started drinking at 8AM that morning...

 

 

Take my wife, please.

 

I already have one of my own that I want to get rid of sometimes.

 

Were you still drinking at 12PM in the noon?

 

(ducks)

 

edit: you already fixed it, my joke doesn't make sense now

Were you still drinking at 12PM in the noon?

 

(ducks)

 

edit: you already fixed it, my joke doesn't make sense now

 

oops sorry.

Well, isn't Urban Ohio all about putting as many people in one place to increase critical mass.  Pack 'em all in the house.  Heck, by the time were done having kids, they'll probably build a Barnes and Noble in my driveway.

Well, isn't Urban Ohio all about putting as many people in one place to increase critical mass.  Pack 'em all in the house.  Heck, by the time were done having kids, they'll probably build a Barnes and Noble in my driveway.

 

LMAO!

^^Interesting change over the years.  When I graduated from college people who did not have jobs but wanted to live in a particular city did not move home for 4 months to 2 years and then move out.  They simple moved to the city immediately, took whatever job they could in that city (even low level retail), and then looked for a permanent job in thier field from there.  Maybe everybody was just more mature or more adventerous then.

^^Interesting change over the years.  When I graduated from college people who did not have jobs but wanted to live in a particular city did not move home for 4 months to 2 years and then move out.  They simple moved to the city immediately, took whatever job they could in that city (even low level retail), and then looked for a permanent job in thier field from there.  Maybe everybody was just more mature or more adventerous then.

 

i don't know about that.  If a young college graduate today told me they were up and moving to LA on a whim with no job, I would definately try to persuade them not too.  It's just the job market today.  The job comes first, the city next.  Even warehouse work or waiting tables these days is hard to get.    I know what you mean though, back in the mid 90's, it was like that.  But it was a bit easier then...should I say much easier. 

I wonder how many of those kids just up and moving to a city were being supported by their parents anyway. If I'm a parent, and I have a choice of paying for my kid to play in NYC, Chi, LA, etc. or letting him flop on his old bed w/ the Star Wars sheets, I'm picking the latter. Then I can yell at him everyday to look for work.

I wonder how many of those kids just up and moving to a city were being supported by their parents anyway. If I'm a parent, and I have a choice of paying for my kid to play in NYC, Chi, LA, etc. or letting him flop on his old bed w/ the Star Wars sheets, I'm picking the latter. Then I can yell at him everyday to look for work.

I'm with you on that.  The kids I knew that were going to big Cities on a whim when I graduated were being supported by their parents big time for a few months.  I mean, lets face it.  Where does a recent college grad get thousands of dollars for travel expenses, first months rent, and security deposits for a place in LA. 

When i graduated, all the kids from Akron were itching to move to Cleveland.  The Cleveland kids never even heard of their hometown :lol:.

^^Interesting change over the years.  When I graduated from college people who did not have jobs but wanted to live in a particular city did not move home for 4 months to 2 years and then move out.  They simple moved to the city immediately, took whatever job they could in that city (even low level retail), and then looked for a permanent job in thier field from there.  Maybe everybody was just more mature or more adventerous then.

 

I think it depends on the situation.  When I graduated, I had a job a lined up.  However, I still had to move back home with my parents.

 

I'm a huge planner.  so I need to see LTPs on paper and make sure I can live within my means.  At that time, the only way I could live at the lifestyle I wanted was to live with Mommy and Daddy.  I had to pay rent, so it was damn near like having an apartment.