how great it is to be living on her own, and thinking only of herself. What with raising her two, at times difficult children, to the loss of her husband, my Dad, a few years ago, I think it’s about time she staPerhaps it’s simply because I’m at that age, but I’ve noticed that over the past few years the number of young adults still living with their parents has risen considerably. As a kid, I remember gleefully imagining the days when I would be free from the shackles of my parents, out on my own, and doing whatever the hell I wanted, and every friend I had shared enthusiastically in that dream. So why, now that we are grown up, are so many of us staying at home with Mam and Dad until they have grown desperate for their freedom from us?

I say us, because I am one of the guilty too. I’m twenty-nine years old, and only living in my own home a few years – purchased, it has to be added, with financial help from my parents. My Mother was completely supportive of my living with her but since I have moved out has waxed extremely lyrical about how great it is to be living on her own, and thinking only of herself. What with raising her two, at times difficult children, to the loss of her husband, my Dad, a few years ago, I think it’s about time she sta

ng the days when I would be free from the shackles of my parents, out on my own, and doing whatever the hell I wanted, and every friend I had shared enthusiastically in that dream. So why, now that we are grown up, are so many of us staying at home with Mam and Dad until they have grown desperate for their freedom from us?

I say us, because I am one of the guilty too. I’m twenty-nine years old, and only living in my own home a few years – purchased, it has to be added, with financial help from my parents. My Mother was completely supportive of my living with her but since I have moved out has waxed extremely lyrical about how great it is to be living on her own, and thinking only of herself. What with raising her two, at times difficult children, to the loss of her husband, my Dad, a few years ago, I think it’s about time she sta

up, are so many of us staying at home with Mam and Dad until they have grown desperate for their freedom from us?

I say us, because I am one of the guilty too. I’m twenty-nine years old, and only living in my own home a few years – purchased, it has to be added, with financial help from my parents. My Mother was completely supportive of my living with her but since I have moved out has waxed extremely lyrical about how great it is to be living on her own, and thinking only of herself. What with raising her two, at times difficult children, to the loss of her husband, my Dad, a few years ago, I think it’s about time she sta

my own home a few years – purchased, it has to be added, with financial help from my parents. My Mother was completely supportive of my living with her but since I have moved out has waxed extremely lyrical about how great it is to be living on her own, and thinking only of herself. What with raising her two, at times difficult children, to the loss of her husband, my Dad, a few years ago, I think it’s about time she sta how great it is to be living on her own, and thinking only of herself. What with raising her two, at times difficult children, to the loss of her husband, my Dad, a few years ago, I think it’s about time she started looking after herself. I say that now, but still expected to be welcomed at her house well into my adult years. Such are our mixed feelings about living with our parents. We want the best of all worlds.

My generation has received, in my own opinion, more bad press than it deserves. We aren’t all the materialistic and self-involved brats that many older people seem to think us, but perhaps that is simply something every generation thinks of the one before. But there is little denying that things are different for us these days. At fifteen, my Mam was sent out to work, and gave up almost every penny she earned to keep the household afloat. As many of her generation did, she tried to give her children the things she never had herself, and as the Irish economy improved, this was much easier to do. Though I do not consider myself