The Accordion Family: Adult Children Living at Home

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Thirty one percent of adult children ages eighteen to thirty four years old still live with their parents. (HMIH) In the article “The Accordion Family” by Katherine S. Newman discusses many different reasons why adult children ages eighteen to thirty continue to live at home with their parents across several different cultural regions. A few of the major reasons for needing to stay home longer or return home can be: not financially stable to be out on their own, receiving a higher education and the debts that incurred by doing so, loss of job, foreclosures, divorce and there are of course some who can be just plain lazy. I believe it does take a village to raise a child, it is our responsibility to teach and mold these young adults before forcing them into the “real world”. Why does society in general feel that the age of eighteen is an acceptable age to send them off? It is absolutely beneficial to allow our adult children to stay at home longer if needed, both beneficial to society and the family unit altogether economically and to build a stronger family unit. While reading …show more content…

Giovanni likes to live the lavish lifestyle, works a minimum paying job that allows him to somewhat afford his lifestyle and he does not pay his parents any rent. Allowing an adult child to live at home can be a great learning tool for them. However, they should be paying rent, utilities, groceries etc. Living back at home can be a financial benefit to not only the adult child but also to the parents. In the article “Escaping the Boomerang Life” it talks about how the Stroud family moved back in with her mother because they were tired of living paycheck to paycheck. This allowed them to get out of the rat race and start saving for a future. It also allowed for Stroud’s mother Denise to pay off some of her debts by collecting rent from her

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