I read this article:
and whilst it scared me, it didn’t at all surprise me. It did massively worry me though.
Working in the Students’ Union as I have done for the past few years, I been reliant upon a culture of responsibility – where young adults take control of activities and mature through leading these activities in new and often exciting directions. And maybe its just a think about me getting older. But I find it depressing not only that parents would take such an active role in handling their children’s lives, but that their children would actually let them.
More and more people are choosing to live at home with their families for longer and longer periods. People hang on to their childhood obsessions late into their adult lives – see here for a cracking rant. But is this right? Does our fear of being grown up and taking responsibility lead us to a rejection of adult lifestyles?
It could also be partly due to the fact that if you take responsibility for something, there’s a chance that it might go wrong and you might end up getting hit with a hefty dose of blame. Or worse. We live in a society where mistakes are rarely tolerated and where those who make mistakes are publicly flogged by our media. But we also live in a society where the shifting of blame is endemic and where people don’t see that there’s anything wrong with lying in order to avoid holding your hand up and owning up to your own error.
Helicopter parenting and the continuing infantilisation of ourselves, our friends and our families doesn’t help us in any way as a society and it continues to prove a fake cloak of protection from reality. We need to be strong enough to take responsibility, to admit to mistakes and then make them right, to stand on our own two feet and venture into the world.
