"If life had worked out differently, Serena would by now be coming to terms with an empty nest. Having brought up seven children, she and her husband might even have been enjoying a little more money and time for themselves. But as it is, three of their adult children are now at home: the 23-year-old finishing his degree; the 28-year-old, a teacher, saving for a house deposit; and the 34-year-old, after a mental health crisis."
"Robert and his wife were planning to go travelling next year, once they had retired, to try to remember who we each are in this new child-free phase of life. But their eldest is now back home having left university this summer without a job in a tough year for graduate recruitment, and his parents are reluctant to leave him ploughing through demoralising job interviews alone."
Many middle-aged parents find adult children living at home due to education delays, housing costs, unemployment, or mental-health setbacks. Parents maintain households with grown children, turning spare rooms into bedrooms and taking on caregiving tasks. Parents report mixed feelings: companionship, richness, and fun alongside awkwardness about partners staying over and the absence of a traditional empty-nest transition. Couples delay plans such as travel or retirement projects to support adult children through job searches and recoveries. Parents struggle to set boundaries between responsibility and autonomy for adult offspring, and generational roles often blur between accommodating gen X parents and gen Z children.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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