Pounding Sand

"I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity." - Albert Einstein

Audrey found a really long, but great article on Boomerang Kids in the NY Times online:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html

I read it yesterday but my thoughts and opinions linger. I can't get behind labeling this "age" in an official capacity. It seems artificial and repugnant. I question the age of the article's author as it stems from a voice that appears "parent-like" and overbearing. I am not a parent (yet) and am just a few years off from the median of this group - a woman who has freshly navigated the gauntlet of my 20's and a person who can easily relate to the remarks made here. From my view, it's these parents and experts who are calling a lot of attention to this special time with a hovering need to label this stage which, I propose, as a way to make themselves feel better. Perhaps they feel embarrassment and confusion as to why their offspring have not acted conventionally (like they did in their 20's). And, oh, how I loathe the box-checking of completing life mile stones that was cited no less than three times as a roadmap for being able to call ones-self a REAL adult. I'll allow myself a little vitriol here as I assert that those favoring the label need to express how they didn't raise lost souls on purpose! Instead they can say: "No...see? Johnny is just fine. In fact, he's emerging into Johnathan now. He's, well, he's "Johno" and that's "ok". He just hasn't reached full adulthood. Phew - we're good parents afterall!

I find the idea - neither here nor there - good for discussion but it's so personal and dependent on the socio-economic factors of the day. My guess is that if the economy continues flatlining than the uphill/ladder climbing of life stages will become more pyramidal and accessible only to a few people rather than the masses. Thus, this guffaw-worthy "extra stage" of development will flutter out with the wind. I mean - just get on with your life or not - but no need to enter a prescribed stage and call it mandatory as an express rite of passage.

The author of the article remarks: "If it really works that way, if this longer road to adulthood really leads to more insight and better choices, then Arnett’s vision of an insightful, sensitive, thoughtful, content, well-honed, self-actualizing crop of grown-ups would indeed be something worth waiting for."

I say the wheel was already invented. It's still going around: the pace varies depending on the rider.