Should Adult Children stay at home with their parents?

Life is getting more and more expensive for young people but does that give them the right to stay with parents for longer?

New statistics have been released by the Office of National Statistics here in the UK regarding young adults living at home in 2011. It seems that 1.8 million young males and 1.1 million young females aged between 20 and 34 still live at home with Mum and Dad. These numbers have increased by about 20 percent since 1997.

Is this a good trend or not? Is it a temporary one based on the economic challenges of the job and housing markets at present? Or is it just a sign of lazy youth and wimpy parents who give in at the first sign of trouble?

The Economy and its effect on housing

Since 2008, the economy has been in a bit of a downward spiral. The housing market crashed somewhat and suddenly people found themselves out of work and unable to pay for their home loans. This resulted in houses being repossessed and banks refusing to lend money as easily as they used to.

This has now made buying a home completely unaffordable for young people in their 20s and just about affordable in their 30s assuming they manage to keep a job that pays well. House prices have always been pricey but now these high prices combined with the banks being unwilling to lend has caused young people between the ages of 20 and 34 either to rent at astronomical rates or to stay home with their parents.

This used to be something to be ashamed of but is now becoming something of a norm in this age group according to the latest statistics released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

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"Family Reunion," October 20, 1945

Poster

In some cultures, this is definitely considered the norm. Children stay with parents even when they take a partner and then they go on to look after aging parents in the family home. Not a bad arrangement, some might say. In the UK, which is essentially a Home owning culture, this is fairly strange and an assault to the independent streak found in most British people.

However, with the economy the way it is at present, it seems to make sense far parents to share the cost of living with their adult children. Surely it makes it cheaper for everyone.

Logically, yes, but only if the adult children are paying something towards their living costs and not just sponging off their parents. there are stories of young people moving back into their parent's homes expecting to remain there as long as they like without contributing to the running of the household in any way.

In some cases, they still expect all their cleaning and cooking to be done for them in addition to not paying any board. Surely, this is irresponsible!

Having been one who had to leave the parent's nest at the young age of 17, I cannot help but be envious of people who get to remain at home for extended periods giving them time to save up money before moving into their own homes. It is definitely tough to be ousted out into the adult world with no savings and no fall back plan.

However, as a person who then had to take care of younger siblings who made me feel guilty for asking for a nominal sum to help keep the household going. They also felt it was their right to treat the house as a hotel where I was expected to clean up after them. Eventually, life got unpleasant enough for all of us that they decided to move out and our relationships are better for it.

How does a parent cope with this? I would find it much harder to exile my own children from the family home when they become of age and if the economy remains this bad for long, how could I?

And yet, being a parent is expensive enough while the children are dependent without adding another 14 years to the equation. What to do? What to do?