Wednesday, February 15, 2012

AMERICA - Older Children Returning to the Nest

"'Accordion' Families Expand for Boomerang Kids, 'Parasite Singles' to Move Home" PBS Newshour 2/14/2012

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Now, young adults who leave the nest, only to come right back home again.

NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman looks at what is behind that growing trend. It's part of his regular reporting Making Sense of financial news.

PAUL SOLMAN: The Schaffer residence in Newton, Massachusetts, outside Boston. Fraternal twins Becky and Naomi both went away to college in Canada, graduated last year. Both worked part-time. And both are so-called boomerang kids, back home with their parents.



SIDE COMMENT: Here's an interesting excerpt

PAUL SOLMAN: At the Schaffers, parents Kenny and Lianne were mostly positive about their no-longer empty nest.

LIANNE SCHAFFER, mother: It's a pleasure really to have them around, even though it's more work and more, you know, mess and all that.

PAUL SOLMAN: The girls' take?

BECKY SCHAFFER: Even though my parents are cool, it's nice to live by yourself in an apartment and not kind of have to answer to anyone.

PAUL SOLMAN: You can't sleep until 2:00 in the afternoon.

BECKY SCHAFFER: Oh, I do that. But I can't -- like, you know, I can't sit in my living room and drink with my friends until late into the night, like I did in college. And that's okay. But, I mean, this is like our family's home, so I can't just do whatever I want.

Welcome to "married life." Why do I say that? Married couples do not "do whatever I want," it's a life of "we" not "I" where each has to always consider the other. It's "our" home, income, life-style, etc.

Only if young people leave home and do NOT move into a another home-relationship do you get the opportunity to "do whatever I want." Like Becky's college experience.

My limited observation of problems with young couples is when they move away from their parent's home DIRECTLY into a significant-other home and find they cannot be as independent as they expected.

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