by Marcia Barhydt
When I say home, I mean the home you grew up in, as in the home that belongs to your Mom and Dad. The one they pay all the bills for, the one where they do all the cooking and shopping, as well as all of the cleaning up after you.
Pretty cushy life you're having there? It's kind of like have a maid service. Okay, a maid service with some nagging thrown in for free from your mother. But trust me, she's earned her right to nag you in spades.
In Venice, Italy, there's a couple who are so frustrated with their free-loading 41 year old son, that they've hired a lawyer to evict him. Now don't go getting all dewy eyed for the poor kid because he has a fulltime job. It gets worse: he demands that his clothes be washed and ironed and his meals prepared. Grr. He has, of course, no intention of moving out. More grr.
So this kid's father and mother (who suffered so much from stress that she had to be hospitalized) have now served him with a legal letter telling him to vacate or litigate in court.
Turns out, this kid is part of a large demographic of kids under 40 still living at home - about half of all adult children in Italy are enjoying the perks of home.
This misplaced tenacity is right here in Canada too, as revealed in the CBC episode of Doc Zone titled Generation Boomerang.
Note that in Canada, 51% of young Canadian adults between 20 and 29 still live with their parents. Holy Cow!
Okay, I'll admit that I didn't move out until I was 23 but I was the absolute last person in my circle of friends to finally make a successful escape. And okay, I'll also admit that my mom cut the crusts off my bread until I left, blush.
But those of us growing up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s couldn't wait to get out on our own. We couldn't wait to cut off our own crusts! Living with our parents was considered to be lame beyond belief.
We were thrilled to be living in near poverty with furniture passed down to us from our folks who just wanted to get rid of our stuff. We had a picnic table for our dining room, and couch we made out of boards with an upholstered piece of foam for the seat and a patio chaise for a chair. We thought we were in paradise!
I think that I properly inspired my own daughters, now in their 30s, to move out ASAP. I had no empty nest syndrome, believe me.
Remember when you had a fight with a live-in guy and you threw all his stuff out on the front lawn? Maybe we should try that with these kids? Bye bye!
©Marcia Barhydt, 2011