A generation of Helicopter Parents has in turn raised a generation of Boomerang Kids whose career paths follow a wide arcing curve that is ultimately leading them back to their point of origin; their parent’s homes.
An unstable economy, a weak job market, student loan debt and sky-rocketing housing costs have all been identified as contributing causes for this trend of nearly 60% of children returning to the nest, treating the family home like a free hotel and staying up until 3 am watching Adult Swim and Robot Chicken, but previous generations who haven’t been mollycoddled every moment of their life have had to deal with harsh times and financial adversity and you didn’t see them asking Mom to pick them up some Rogaine while she’s at the store.
Articles offering advice on how Mom and Dad can live in domestic harmony with their twenty-somethings like getting them to pay rent, agreeing on household chores and not waiting on them hand and foot may be necessary for some families, however it’s not too late for those of us with young children to stop Helicopter Parenting and start parenting like some other form of aviation like a Cessna light aircraft, the kind used for skydiving. Imagine 18 years of child rearing where instead of hovering and overprotecting we teach our kids to freefall and pull the parachute chord on their own; it’s easy if you try.
Maybe then we’ll be comparing the next generation of kids to some other archaic weaponry like a slingshot or a catapult; once launched the projectile travels further and further away from its point of origin. Who’s with me?
And if that doesn’t work, we can all just turn off the lights, crouch down and pretend we’re not home.
(photocredit:www.jonkeegan.com)
