BoomerGirl Diary

There's a fascinating new reality show on Australian TV in which the camera follows three families whose adult children still live with their parents, for better or worse.

This from a story in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald called "Home and Hosed":

Psychologist Dr Dina McMillan and financial guru Scott Pape shepherd the families through the process and comment on social trends driving the phenomenon. "What has happened in the Western world in the past 15 or 20 years is the baby boomer parents are giving their children all the privileges of adulthood and not expecting them to have any of the responsibility," McMillan says. "I'm seeing real trouble. Nobody has told baby boomer parents of the negative impacts of overindulging their adult children.

"You're [affecting] their employment [potential], their probability of having a successful adult relationship, increasing their probability of divorce and that they'll cheat on their taxes. If someone doesn't feel a sense of general responsibility, they'll be more inclined to do what they think they can get away with."

Rather than blame the kids, McMillan thinks "tentative" parenting is responsible for the increase in young adults staying at home. "I blame it on my people, the baby boomers. We just don't want to go to the next phase. As long as you have kids in the house you're a parent, you don't have to move to the empty nest phase. Baby boomers too often see that as growing old."

Increased divorce rates? Tax evasion?

What say you, baby boomer parents?