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Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot  That's American culture again.
In Asia, it's common for the old folks to like the idea of at least one of their adult children to stay with them. Not only that, for the adult's spouse, and their little kids, to stay there too. So that the old folks can see their grandkids and look after them every day. |
Side story: my friend who teaches 2nd and 3rd grade here in Seoul watched the movie Up with her class. The kids had a really culturally interesting reaction to the introductory story. When the couple was shown to be infertile, they were puzzled but not sad. When they were shown to grow old without fulfilling their dreams, no reaction. When the old man's wife dies, no reaction. When the old man, who is now an increasingly incapacitated childless widower, has to be taken to a home since there's no one to care for him (which is supposed to be a comic scene) the children started openly weeping. They definitely know and have internalized very young what is socially expected of them.
That said, I do witness a lot of negative consequences of parents maintaining such a strong hold on their offspring. I have seen nervous breakdowns and depressive episodes that were definitely mother / mother in law induced, I have seen mothers break marriages, I have seen situations of domestic abuse that were fueled by either party's parents.
I am sure an outsider living in the West would be able to point out the negative consequences of our conception of family ties.