The Circle Of Life

After decades of bemoaning the demise of the extended family, more and more parents are now faced with the prospect of their young adult children moving back home.

Although young people today earn more money than generations past, the constant rise in living costs means that they are earning less and finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

In the UK the percentage of young adults forced to return home has gone up by a whopping eight per cent simply because house prices have gone up 204 per cent.

Add to that the rise in the cost of transportation, food and utilities, and they really have no choice but to return home.

The one choice they do have is to give themselves over to a never-ending bank loan but how does that compare with the double-barrelled comforts of loving parents and never having to deal with dirty underclothes?

In my experience most young people aspired to making it on their own as soon as they graduated from university; girls more than boys; because it gave them a sense of liberation and the freedom to pursue their dreams without parental control.

The aspiration to break free was pandemic three decades ago and it seems to me that the situation has now become global with more young ones forced to return home.

Europe, Asia, America or Latin America, the price of property keeps increasing while pay cheques are lagging far behind.

Enough has been said in Dubai about the high cost of living forcing people to share apartments. Unfortunately, as expatriates we don't have the comforts of a parental home to fall back on.

Choosing to return to the nest however could be heaven or hell on earth for both parents and young adults. Each party used to doing their own thing many a time finds it very hard to adapt to expectations on both sides.

Well, now we'll have something else to moan about for some decades to come: How children have become so dependent… In the good old days they left when they turned 18…