I sympathize with both sides, I really do. As a recent grad, I totally get the frustration and stress that comes with no income, high debt, and suddenly finding yourself back in the strange rut that you left years before, usually glad to see it go. But I also completely understand how, for parents, there is suddenly another mouth to feed, more laundry, more utilities, more people fighting over the remote, and just a general stress that comes with having another adult with a totally different way of life.
Moms and Dads, let me clue you in, though. As much as you may think we kids are looking forward to coming back home footloose and fancy free, for most of us, it sucks. Not because we're broke, or because we can no longer make 2am runs to McDonalds without being looked down upon, or because we're sleeping on the Superman sheets we bought at 13. It's because, at some point, the words "you live in my house" come into play.
Don't get me wrong. I understand that it is your home, you pay most of the bills, and you have the right to set ground rules. But a sentence like that only serves to antagonize and trivialize. Antagonizes because it reminds us of all the ways in which we currently come up short - in debt, under- or un- employed, back in the nest; trivializes because it suggests that we are not allowed to have an opinion/our opinion is invalid because we haven't fit the mold of "success."
There has to be a better way. Living at home doesn't have to be painful or cause a million regrets. We all need to learn to talk to each other with love, and then maybe the process of getting on our feet won't feel so wrong.
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