We’re complaining of a problem we made for ourselves!

Last week while I was having coffee with my friend Jan, she began complaining about her 25-year-old son who had just moved back at home. He’s the youngest of three children and after a stint overseas, some couch surfing with claims he would find a rental property soon, he’s back at his parents house. Luke is just one person in the commonly called, “generation boomerang” but as I listened to Jan it became quite apparent that the problem isn’t their generation. It’s ours!

According to McCrindle Research, one in four Australians aged 20 to 24 were living in the parental home in 2009. This is putting increased strain on our generation and people like Jan because they are fronting most of the costs.

If you think about it our generation has a range of household costs, mortgage repayments, maintenance, rates, electricity, water, groceries, telephone, internet and the rest. This generation is often moving in without an adult agreement to contribute properly and is enjoying low rent or rent-free accommodation, no bills and feeding off our groceries.

FinancialAdvisor.com.au has said that the main reason younger generations are doing this is due to financial problems. But the thing is, their financial problems are becoming ours and they aren’t learning in the meantime.

Essentially, our own lenience and pandering to our kids has made them this way. We’ve allowed them to avoid adult responsibilities and have a lower cost of living, yet most of them aren’t actively saving the money they would otherwise be spending. They aren’t learning responsibilities around the home as the nature of parenting sees us do most of the work out of habit and they aren’t contributing to Australia’s economy in any significant manner.

So while we sit around complaining about our boomerang children, we have to realise that it is actually our own fault!

When it comes to boomerang children, I think that it comes down to education. If they are privileged enough to stay in our homes under our roofs while adults, then they should be making a commitment to their future while doing that. They either need to be contributing to the household or investing in their future.

Jan decided to have that chat with Luke when she got home from coffee and I hope that more people do it. Although we love our kids and would do anything for them, giving it all and not teaching them in the process is making everyone’s life harder.

Tell us, do you agree? Have you had boomerang children? Did you have an arrangement while they were living with you?