The kid next door to me. 22 years old, degree in "math" and comes from a family of teachers. This kid has been sitting at home for about 18 months now. And when I say sitting at home, I mean, sitting at home. Literally. He doesn't even appear to socialize. The fat bastard rarely leaves the house. I am seriously beginning to just enjoy watching how long this can go on. It's unbelievable.
The prime of life, when you should be learning valuable skills--learning how to talk to people, negotiate, communicate, get along with difficult people, etc. Wasted as he sits inside on the internet and playing video games.
It's unbelievable that parents would enable this. But he probably feeds them a line of crap about not being able to find a job. BS--my daughter is 18 and in college. She has two jobs. One she just got for the summer. She probably applied to ten places and got 8 call backs. Granted these are low level jobs but you do something until you can do something better, IMO.
About a year ago, the parents bought him a new car. They are never there, they both work 50+ hours a week to afford his lifestyle. So, he sits home, mostly alone, in a new 4000 square foot house with a pool--doing his thing.
The kid next door might benefit from hearing from you exactly what you just wrote. he might take advice from someone other than his parents. If something doesn’t change to force him out of his stupor he will end up committing suicide. No one can live very long without purpose.
“The prime of life, when you should be learning valuable skills—learning how to talk to people, negotiate, communicate, get along with difficult people, etc. Wasted as he sits inside on the internet and playing video games.
It’s unbelievable that parents would enable this.”
You might be surprised how a parent can subtly impose this mindset over time. Most parents want to help their children succeed and become independent...others see them as a resource to be exploited for their own ends, unwittingly or otherwise. Sad, but true...I’ve seen it happen several times.