It seems like having your own pad in the city is out and moving into your old room is in. According to yesterday's Boston Globe, "The days when college graduation automatically meant getting a job and an apartment are endangered. With the US economy in a nosedive, jobs scarce, and rents high, "boomerang kids" head for home, where the living is easy. There are no firm numbers yet on the impact of the current recession, but those who study the younger generation say that empty nests are starting to fill back in." Click here to read the full story Boomerang Kids are Returning Home.
It seems these kids are comfortable. Maybe a bit too comfortable. In the interest of full disclosure, I was a "boomerang young adult." After flying around the world for a year, I returned to the nest. But I had a plan. I was getting out of there as soon as I could. These kids look like they are staying indefinitely.
Here is my advice from the voice of experience:
Parents may be doing their children a favor (or vice-a-versa) but in the long run everyone needs to learn how to fly on their own. Don't get too comfortable or you may be living in this situation for the next 40 years.
Stop enabling one another. Living for free and expecting your folks to do your dirty laundry. Do you really want your mom folding your thongs? Or worse yet, your dad? Make a financial contribution as well as a contribution to the household chores that must be done.
Create an exit strategy. I'm not talking about the one mentioned in this article where the parents leave the house so they can have a private conversation (Gheez!) This is a plan to help move things along so eventually everyone can get back to living the way life was meant to be lived.
Lower your expectations Millennials. Yes, I know you may have had a million dollar view of the Charles River all through college but this is the real world. Those views can be had again for those willing to work hard to achieve success.
Learning how to stand on your own will help prepare you for the ups and downs life may offer you. And in the end, that's something that even your caring parents may not be able to give you.
