1. ObamaCare….significant in so many ways….it included a symbolic cultural declaration: The law allows children to stay on their parents health insurance plan up to age 26. The bill codifies, in federal law, the dramatic shift in the age at which young people should be considered independent by legally extending the right to continue to remain under mom and dad’s wings for an additional half-decade.
a. As more and more young people take a leisurely journey to adulthood, the age of 18 and 21 increasingly lack relevance for the actual path to independence.
b. Liberalism infantilizes the citizenry: 26 has become the new 18.
2. “Previous generations crossed the frozen Bering Straits, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, discovered the New World, traveled the Oregon Trail, climbed Mount Everest.” The Greatest Generation included teenage boys who went off to liberate Europe, island-hp through the Pacific, and defeat the Japanese Empire…So far, though, the great pioneering move of Generation Me is to move back home to live in mom’s basement. Sykes, “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School,” p. 79.
3. Today, so many are failing or refusing to leave home, that sociologists and demographers have come up with euphemisms, such as ‘emerging adults,’ thresholders, twixters, an kidults. None of them should be taken as compliments.
a. “Our findings, as well as the work of other scholars, confirm
that it takes much longer to make the transition to adulthood
today than decades ago, and arguably longer than it has at
any time in America’s history” http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jdowd/furstenbergetal-growingup.pdf
b. “ In reality, however, by age 21, few young people today would actually be considered “adult” based on the traditional markers—leaving home, finishing school, starting a job, getting married, and having children.” http://www.transad.pop.upenn.edu/downloads/ch1-fff-formatted.pdf
4. The number of so-called “boomerangs,” adult children between the ages of 18and 24 who move back home is up by 50% since 1970. Census figures suggest hat 56% of men and 43% of women between the ages of d18 and 24 continue to live with a parent. Even more continue eto rely on the bank of Mom and Dad well past the age when grown-ups were once expected to pay their own way. Sykes, “ A Nation of Moochers,” p. 209.
5. “Youth receive substantial help from their parents. On average, for youth both living at home and living independently, parents provide roughly $38,000 in material assistance for food, housing, education, or direct cash assistance, throughout the transition to adulthood (ages 18–34). http://www.transad.pop.upenn.edu/projects/policybrief.pdf
a. “It helps to pay for housing, bills and travel expenses, and the support has been increasing for the past two decades as education is extended, marriage is delayed and young people take the scenic route from adolescence to adulthood.” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/fashion/thursdaystyles/20money.html?pagewanted=all
6. Of course, there are good aspects of this extension of one’s childhood….but, in the big picture, it suggests a declining premium on independence, and on the strength of character.
a. Politically, the delayed-adulthood shifts millions into a period of prolonged dependency, not just on mom and dad….but on government programs that enable a slacker lifestyle.
What does this bode for the future of this great nation?
a. As more and more young people take a leisurely journey to adulthood, the age of 18 and 21 increasingly lack relevance for the actual path to independence.
b. Liberalism infantilizes the citizenry: 26 has become the new 18.
2. “Previous generations crossed the frozen Bering Straits, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, discovered the New World, traveled the Oregon Trail, climbed Mount Everest.” The Greatest Generation included teenage boys who went off to liberate Europe, island-hp through the Pacific, and defeat the Japanese Empire…So far, though, the great pioneering move of Generation Me is to move back home to live in mom’s basement. Sykes, “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School,” p. 79.
3. Today, so many are failing or refusing to leave home, that sociologists and demographers have come up with euphemisms, such as ‘emerging adults,’ thresholders, twixters, an kidults. None of them should be taken as compliments.
a. “Our findings, as well as the work of other scholars, confirm
that it takes much longer to make the transition to adulthood
today than decades ago, and arguably longer than it has at
any time in America’s history” http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jdowd/furstenbergetal-growingup.pdf
b. “ In reality, however, by age 21, few young people today would actually be considered “adult” based on the traditional markers—leaving home, finishing school, starting a job, getting married, and having children.” http://www.transad.pop.upenn.edu/downloads/ch1-fff-formatted.pdf
4. The number of so-called “boomerangs,” adult children between the ages of 18and 24 who move back home is up by 50% since 1970. Census figures suggest hat 56% of men and 43% of women between the ages of d18 and 24 continue to live with a parent. Even more continue eto rely on the bank of Mom and Dad well past the age when grown-ups were once expected to pay their own way. Sykes, “ A Nation of Moochers,” p. 209.
5. “Youth receive substantial help from their parents. On average, for youth both living at home and living independently, parents provide roughly $38,000 in material assistance for food, housing, education, or direct cash assistance, throughout the transition to adulthood (ages 18–34). http://www.transad.pop.upenn.edu/projects/policybrief.pdf
a. “It helps to pay for housing, bills and travel expenses, and the support has been increasing for the past two decades as education is extended, marriage is delayed and young people take the scenic route from adolescence to adulthood.” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/fashion/thursdaystyles/20money.html?pagewanted=all
6. Of course, there are good aspects of this extension of one’s childhood….but, in the big picture, it suggests a declining premium on independence, and on the strength of character.
a. Politically, the delayed-adulthood shifts millions into a period of prolonged dependency, not just on mom and dad….but on government programs that enable a slacker lifestyle.
What does this bode for the future of this great nation?
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