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Originally Posted by Harmonium  From Steve's twitter. What do you all think? |
Heh, I'm probably one of the eldest people on this forum who lives with his parents, so here's my take:
I personally think that, if you're going to make a broad generalization about who's a child and who's an adult,
John Cheese recently made a much better one:
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...it seems to be a balancing point between when you stop depending on other people, and become the person other people can depend on.
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In that article, he talks about a teen who works a job to support him and his mother who's on disability, and guys in their 30s who live on their own with wives and kids who are less of an adult than that teen is. Great stuff.
Now, by that measure, I still consider myself to be a child. But I aspire to become an adult one day, by becoming someone whom other people depend on instead of someone who depends on other people. In my situation, doing that will probably require me to move out of my parents' house eventually.
Do I feel shame about being a "child" by that measure even though I'm a legal adult? ♥♥♥♥ no. I think people sometimes take too much pride in being self-reliant. Relying on other people can be a great thing in life, as can being relied upon. What matters is that you do it with people who aren't toxic or abusive.
In that respect, I think that those who generalize that people either should or shouldn't live with their parents are incorrect. Either living situation can be a good thing (or at least better than the alternative), depending on the circumstances and the personalities of everyone involved.
If you have overbearing parents who destroy your self esteem, I say get the hell out of there as fast as you can! If you and your parents get along great and you're happy with the idea of living with them (or having them live with you), and everyone else (your parents, your spouse if you have one, etc.) is also happy with the arrangement, then go for it! It's awesome that you all get along so well.
The same goes for elderly people facing the prospect of living with their kids. If living with your kids would make you miserable, don't move in with them if you can avoid it! And if you and everyone else involved feels fine about you living with them, go right ahead!