[bella1]

What's the matter with boys? The real question is what's the matter with their parents? If a fully grown, able-bodied male still lives at home, its mommy and daddys fault.

[Timeout]

Isn't it obvious? The old saying is true: "People rise to meet the expectations set for them".

This is true of children, adults, men, women.
It's universal.
It's human nature, for cryin' out loud!
Permissive parents get undisciplined children.
What's so hard about that?!

[summer]

The real question is what's the matter with their parents?

I think that's a question worth asking. Years ago parents seemed to expect their sons to either: (a) go to college/graduate/get a job and an apartment; or (b) join the military after graduating high school/get a job and an apartment.

Sitting around at the parent's home doing nothing was not an option.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I'm inclined to agree. I joined the Navy at 18, went to college at 25, and became an engineer. I don't look at myself as being super motivated or super smart (I graduated college with a 3.2 GPA and it was a battle to get those grades). The first step is the hardest, the world is full of people whose only barrier is that they never made an attempt.

[rbg81]

I agree parents are partly to blame--some can't deal with the thought of losing their "kids". My son is a HS junior, but my wife doesn't want him going off to school--she wants him going to a closer (but inferior) college. She's also starting to talk about how he can live here (or at least close to home) after he graduates. On the other hand, I want him to get out and experience life. IMHO, I'm not doing him (or me) any favors when by keeping him in the nest. All my wife can think of is that she doesn't want to lose her little boy. [On the other hand, I want my daughter close to home so I can keep an eye on her.]

It used to be that you weren't looked at as a "man" until you got out on your own, fended for yourself, and started a family. Unfortunately, the perception of what constitutes being a "man" has changed. Many people think that people who get married in their 20s are suckers.

[wally-balls]

I agree it probably has as much or more to do with rapidly aging 'boomer' parents whose biggest fear is growing old. They try to keep their children locked in an infantile dependency mode that somehow makes them feel like they're still in the Spring of their lives. This phenomenon has manifested itself in my wife's mid-40-year-old sister who's been after my wife and I to have more babies because it will somehow slow the advance of time. To be able to say she has an infant niece or nephew will turn back the clock, I guess.