Why Aren't 'Emerging Adults Emerging as Adults?

[CGMedley]

Once again Albert Mohler offers an thought provoking commentary on what's happening with young Christian adults in a postmodern age. You can read it in this week's Adventist Review

http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=3809

[abelisle]

How appropriate! The timing for seeing this article is perfect for me. PK and I have just recently had this conversation about our grown, adult children.

I'm not sure what the cause is but this is an area where my wife and I have the most disagreements. Seems like we are as the new term describes it - "helicopter parents"

Maybe that's why a good friend of mine has described me as "childlike" but not "childish". Who knows? Maybe this is genetic?

Alex

[John317]

Excellent article. The best thing parents can do is teach their children to grow up, leave home, and become independant adults. I think one reason it often doesn't happen is that the parents themselves are not fully grown up.

I have a close friend like this: she babies her son who is in his thirties and likes him to stay at home, even though he and his girl friend had a baby together. She makes excuses for him and doesn't require him to stand on his own. Now my friend herself is involved in a relationship with another man. She is very immature and doesn't really know herself what maturity means. Therefore I'm not surprised that she enables her son to do the same things.

A co-worker of mine was the same way with her son, who was still living at home with his mom even though he disrespected her and did almost nothing to help around the house. I told her the best thing she could do for him and herself was tell him he had to leave in two months and then enforce the rule. She said she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. What she didn't realize is that "tough love" is better than a love that enables children to basically destroy themselves and causes them to lose their self-respect, and to be a burden on their parents and on the rest of society.

[Gail]

I enjoyed it, too. The thought that came to my mind was, with all this extended schooling, when can and does a young person work to pay for it? In the olden days a person could work their way through school. Having that responsibility is a good shift into adulthood. Now it seems that they must rely on either parents or loans. Graduating with debt is a given.

[phkrause]

I enjoyed it, too. The thought that came to my mind was, with all this extended schooling, when can and does a young person work to pay for it? In the olden days a person could work their way through school. Having that responsibility is a good shift into adulthood. Now it seems that they must rely on either parents or loans. Graduating with debt is a given.

And now we have the added problem of many of our children moving back home because they either have been laid off or there is no jobs available. Rents are to high. It seems employers want people to work for less yet cost of living continues to go up, up and up. Sometimes you wonder what are the answers.