It's Becoming More Common For Adult Children to Move Back Home

Isn't it nice when the kids move back in with the parents? Well, yes and no, for both the kids and the parents. It's nice to be together again, yes. Is it nice to be spoken to as if you were a child, and is it nice to have to worry when the kids aren't home when they said they would be home?

It is only natural to ask the usual round of questions when kids go out. "What time do you think you'll be home? Where are you going? Who else is going? Who's driving? Are you sure you'll be warm enough? Put on a jacket." Okay, so that last one wasn't a question.

Coming home and finding dinner on the table is nice. Wondering how many people will be at the table each night is not. Being able to talk to each other fairly often is nice. Wondering what you could possibly have said that was so offensive is not.

When kids move back in with parents or with grandparents, it is a good way for them to save money. They don't have to pay as much for rent, and if they do pay something, it's a good way for the parents or grandparents to save money too. Splitting the cost of groceries and utilities and other expenses can be good for both helping make ends meet and learning responsibility.

The reasons for moving back home are usually financial. The cost of living is higher than expected and there is no such thing as job security anymore. Maybe it was too soon to try to be independent. It can be awfully frustrating for all concerned. While the time together is a chance to enjoy each other's company, this change is often happening at a stressful time.

Exchanging notes on job hunting, cooking and other subjects can remind parents that the kids are now adults. It can also lead to an occasional lapse into child-speak. "I think we should have skabetti (or pasgetti) tonight. What do you think?"

Helping out around the house might seem only natural after having to take care of your own home. Maybe it always did come naturally. The things parents and kids used to do for each other are appreciated even more after they resume doing them.

Living with parents or grandparents, sometimes both, until long after finishing school is becoming socially acceptable and even common. In some places it never went out of style. Most kids will make at least an attempt at living on their own though, with or without roommates. This sometimes leads to realizing that things weren't so bad at home.

When it's time to fly the coop again, there might be the same mixture of relief and sadness as last time. Maybe a little bit more of one than the other.