With her third child about to leave the nest, our writer asks why cohabiting with our adult offspring is so looked down upon by modern society
ext week, my third child, Jerry, aged 18, is going off to university, and although he is not the first of my four children to leave home, I am, quite frankly, dreading it.. We have got used to living together during lockdown, and now this unity is being dismantled as a new cohort of young adults heads off to study away from home.
In fact, I intend to live like this for quite a while longer. I am stating this as my intention loudly and clearly because, over the years, people have been very judgmental about my living arrangements. It seems totallyI am not sure why people get so upset. It has begun to make me feel embarrassed, especially as my oldest, Raymond, will be 26 in October. When I tell people this, some look horrified. Others quiz me on when he is moving out, stating that maybe it’s time Leonard left, too.
But, of course, times have changed. We all know how expensive it is to live now – most children in their 20s do not have the earning capacity to move in to anything but student digs with mould in the bathroom and tattered curtains.
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