They will melt, unless they are literally tossed into survival mode-then the ones that can adapt-and work-will survive. As for those that don’t, maybe mom and dad will let them live at home till hell freezes over-otherwise they will probably end up in a bad way...
As a kid from a small family ranch in a remote area of SW Texas, the city was like a vision of insanity to me-but living in a place where nothing convenient was close, we were taught early on to recognize and utilize whatever resources were available wherever we were to survive-and even be reasonably comfortable through our own work and ingenuity-my cub thought my husband-a ranch kid from New Mexico-and I were cruel and abusive when we insisted she learn to be self sufficient by taking her on camping/hunting trips to remote areas, sending her to a survival camp in the New Mexico mountains for a whole summer when she was 14-and insisting she work and pay for as much of her higher education as possible-oh, the cruelty!
Now he tells me all the time how grateful she is for her upbringing...
I read an article in Texas Monthly several years ago about the Waggoner Ranch up in wilbarger County.
They quoted one of the cowboys on the ranch to the effect that he'd gone off to college in the city. But, after a while, he concluded that him and the city just weren't made for each other. So, he moved back to the ranch and cowboying.
The "city" he was referring to was...Vernon.
Your story is the difference between being your children’s *friend* and teaching them the skills they need to make their own life.
Kudos. Ya done good.