Growing up is Over-Rated

Is growing up scarier than it used to be?....Or are parents more protective?

Whatever the deal is, kids are staying kids longer. We know resistance is futile, but it may be that the messages that are getting through is that being young, irresponsible, footloose and fancy free, is cool .... and growing up and being overworked, dry and boring is lame...

go figure.

It's clearly a US and Canada 'thing' ... I wonder if the statistics bear out around the globe... maybe I'll look into it later... I'm too overworked and lame to do it right now.

links:

• The Network on Transitions to Adulthood- Are Young Adults Taking Longer to Grow Up?
• ... in Canada
• Gatehouse News Service - Bryan Roth

I like the sand goby method... If your children won't leave Eat them!

The average age of significant life events have changed since the 1970s as extended adolescence became more common:

First marriage
1970 — Men: 23.2 years old; Women: 20.8 years old
2003 — Men: 27.1 years old; Women: 25.3 years old

Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds that live with parents
1970 — 47.3 percent
2003 — 50.3 percent

Living together, but not married
1970 — 523,000
2003 — 5.1 million

First child for women
1970 — 22.1 years old
2003 — 24.8 years old

The number of people 25 to 34 who have had four or more years of college -- a place where psychologists say young people can go to extend adolescence -- has grown dramatically since the ’60s:

1960 — 2,499,000
1970 — 3,926,000
1980 — 8,836,000
1990 — 10,326,000
2000 — 11,040,000
2006 — 11,806,000

Source: U.S. Census

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