First go read this article.
This made me think about what is my opinion about the kids moving out after their university education. My first reaction was, I actually do not mind and actually would welcome both kids staying at home. As a matter of fact, if that means moving to a new house where both kids have their own rooms is also fine. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't even mind moving to a bigger home with apartments for the kids and their families with a communal living area. heh, the patriarch of the house with a big joint family, eh?
But seriously, i think the eldest has a good head on his shoulder, he wouldn't be a parasite, his mum has trained both kids to do chores and contribute to the household. They help out with the sorting of the clothes, the unloading of the dishwasher, they bring the newspaper, help water the plants when I am away during summer, help with the shopping, so not that they are spoilt or anything.
But I cannot imagine living without them at home. And after I finished my thought, I was missing my parents back in India, they do not have the luxury of living with their children. Sighs, not a good thing.
1 comment:
To my mind, the last point about the disconnect between house prices and starting or even average wages is the key point. There is a fair degree of hypocrisy in the older generation insisting on economic policies that support house price inflation at all cost, regardless of the ratio to real wages, and then complaining that their children can't afford to move out.
I also think it laughably indicative of the UK's obsession with home ownership that the only model of responsible adulthood focuses on separate living when the rental sector provides little stability and buying is now out of reach for all but the minority. Young people today, free of the shackles of a mortgage are far more likely to have travelled the world, which provides experiences their parents never had.
If the article is about lazy, idle 20-somethings who do nothing to contribute to the household, financially or otherwise, then I point to the same subset as being equally lazy, idle teenagers & raise that finger accusingly to their parents. If they were allowed to do nothing as a child, the parents can hardly complain when nothing spontaneously changes.
Personally, I am very happy living with my adult daughter, and wish the other was nearer. If only the UK had the space, the housing footprint and the culture of extended family, compound living, it would be no bad thing. Encouraging young couples to mortgage themselves to the hilt in order to buy a part of a tiny, overpriced shared-ownership flat in the hope of getting "on the housing ladder" without them understanding that without a large increase in wages relative to house-price inflation, is condeming them to a lifetime of existing and attending to raise a family in something the size of a dog-kennel. I would say the answer is the availability of long-term, stable, good-quality rental market similar to that in Germany & other parts of the continent.
Post a Comment