Out with the old and in with the new. We live in a country where the able-bodied are allowed to stay at home in their parents’ home while the elderly who actually need help much of the time are living lone.
Check out these two stories.
In 2012, 36% of the nation’s young adults ages 18 to 31—the so-called Millennial generation—were living in their parents’ home, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. This is the highest share in at least four decades and represents a slow but steady increase over the 32% of their same-aged counterparts who were living at home prior to the Great Recession in 2007 and the 34% doing so when it officially ended in 2009.
Please compare that with this news story:
According to the U.S. Census, 11.3 million people, almost 30 percent of those aged 65 and older in the U.S., live alone. For women aged 85 and older, that number grows to more than half… Many of those are afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Nationwide, the Alzheimer’s Association reports that 800,000 people, one in seven of those with Alzheimer’s disease, live by themselves in the community.
Isn’t this a little crazy? Is this how a society prospers? Those able to live on their own are coddled and infantilized while those who need help are shunned. Is it any surprise at all that euthanasia is all the rage nowadays?
August 2, 2013 at 5:54 pm
Perhaps it is more attractive to be reminded daily of our youth…….than our mortality. This post makes me sad because I doubt my willingness in welcoming my own mother into my home for care and compassion. So my lack of charity and unselfishness has been exposed and I thank you for that.
August 2, 2013 at 8:21 pm
I know some young people living at home with their parents because they can't.get.jobs. Meanwhile both sides of the Congressional aisle plan to increase the number of foreign workers permitted to enter this country–while unemployment rates for those ages 18-24 have risen above 15%. Yes, 15%. When a 22-year-old with a bachelor's degree can only find minimum wage jobs and has to take three of them to get even 30 hours a week (thanks, Obamacare!), he's hardly being coddled if Mom and Dad let him live in his old room as opposed to camping out under an overpass somewhere.
August 2, 2013 at 10:40 pm
As a recent college grad living at home, my experience has been that my grandparents prize their independence and are very reluctant to live with one of their children. They have the benefit of smart savings and social security checks, whereas I'm having trouble finding work that will enable me to get a full time job in the field I've been gaining internship experience. From my perspective, the issue is a bit more complicated than you're painting it.
August 2, 2013 at 10:41 pm
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August 3, 2013 at 10:26 pm
Kitty's comments regarding her older relatives is exactly as mine is. They value their independence and any comment on compromising that in any way is meant with anything from animosity to silence. Never a smile. My wife and are are ready willing and in the case of my grandparents have helped out.
The commenter speaking to the two highly unethical political parties that permit immigration while we have unemployed just tells you something about the anti American family and pro American corporation sentiment by these two parties. Sickening that anyone support either one of them when collectively they have down so much damage.
August 4, 2013 at 3:03 am
Speaking from experience, there is very little a person can do for an elderly person if they are determined to stay in their house and do it themselves. Some get very stubborn and dig in their heels at the suggestion of help. Wanting to help and being able to are sometimes two different things.
August 5, 2013 at 10:55 am
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August 5, 2013 at 11:01 am
As a 58 year old, I reject the premise that our society favors the young over the old. While our media and culture certainly celebrate and worship youth, our societal policies do the opposite and favor the elderly. The elderly receive social security and medicare without need of showing financial necessity, receive senior discounts, etc. etc. Most of the cost of paying for these programs has been saddled on to the national debt, meaning that our children and grandchildren are supposed to pay for it all, if they can find jobs (unemployment among the young is around 50%). The financial ability of our elderly to live independently, in their own homes and condos is a rare privilege in the course of history. Given that their children and grandchildren are expected to pay dearly for these privileges, it is difficult to accept the premise that this is a form of discrimination against the elderly.
August 6, 2013 at 9:14 pm
The problem with looking at the "18-31" demographic is that it is a rather silly group to lump together. An 18 year old still in high school, or a 20 year old in full time university or technical/tradeschool studies, or even the 25 year old helping to support the family business, is not the same as the "coddled" 29 year old who just feels like mooching around and playing World of Warcraft 14 hours a day in his mom's basement.
The change in percentage might have just as much to do with kids choosing schools closer to home so they don't have to move away while they study. Knocking a few years off the bottom to cut out the kids who are commuting from home to university or culinary school or their electrician apprenticeship or whatever would probably be more indicative of levels of "coddling" or whatever is trying to be got at here.