Michelle, 60, and her husband are still supporting their 29-year-old son and 25-year-old daughter. They pay the rent for their daughter’s apartment in Manhattan while she prepares to attend law school. They are subsidizing their son while he works at a low-paying job teaching English in Spain.

…

“Kids are dependent on parents a lot longer today,” she said. “I don’t know if it has to do with the economy or the way we raise them.”

Um, I’m going to say it’s the latter. Is there some reason Daughter has to live in Manhattan? Can she not live in Queens or Hoboken and commute? And let me guess: They will foot the bill for law school as well. And son is teaching English in Spain? Why not teach here, in a real school, with a real salary?

Michelle and her hubby need to cut these kids off. I promise you that when I stopped being subsidized, I found a way to make ends meet REAL quick.

And all of these parents with unemployed 20-somethings living in the basement? If they’re going to be giving them money anyway, why not require them to pick up some of the burden of shuttling their younger siblings to football practice and the mall, or Grandma to her appointment at the hair salon?

I looked after my grandmother for several years after my mother passed away. I certainly had moments when I felt frustrated and angry, but I was happy to be able to do it and would not have had it any other way. I don’t understand the hand-wringing over this sort of thing. As someone mentioned upthread — this is life. It used to always be this way. Stop looking on it as a burden and see the blessing in it instead.