[Namyak]

It was only in the last generation that one was expected to move out of their family home in their 20s. Where I'm from it's not unusual to have three generations living in the same house. My father lived in his father's house with his wife and us three children until he was 40. We didn't move out until my third sister was born. Does that make him a object of ridicule? Would it make me one if I did the same? My family owns a business that the family as a whole operates, and it just makes more sense to keep the family together then to spread us to the winds.

[Disturbin]

"Would it make [an object of ridicule] if I did the same?"

No, of course not. This is a different issue. It has to do with lazy kids who live off of their parents' charity. Most do not pay rent. Personally, I think they need an ultimatum from their old man, just like I got (ie: pay rent or scram). Keeping the family together under one roof for business or health reasons is a different ballgame.

[Sam the Sham]

You are absolutely right. Victorian young marrieds lived with their parents. This notion that you are supposed to be economically independent in your 20's only made sense if you got a good union factory job after high school.

If you are in college and saddled with debt until your 30's failure to launch is just plain the norm.

[Philistone]

I graduated from High School in 1978 and I and EVERY SINGLE ONE of my friends moved out of the house that summer. And 80% of us went to college (working our way through in service jobs).

Of course, those were the days when it was "If you want to live under my roof, you follow my rules!" So we all said "OK, we don't want to follow your rules anymore."