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Here’s a summary bullet-point version of the article “Failure to Launch: Why So Many Adult Kids Still Live With Their Parents” by Kim Abraham and Marney Studaker-Cordner:

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🔹 The Failure to Launch Epidemic

• Increasing number of adult children remain dependent on parents, often unmotivated, disrespectful, and entitled.

• Many parents feel frustrated, exhausted, and confused as their children struggle to transition into independent adulthood.

🔹 Societal Shifts in Parenting Over the Decades

• 1970s ("Little House on the Prairie" Era):

  • Children learned responsibility, faced adversity, and contributed to family life.

  • Parents emphasized independence and natural consequences.

• 1980s–1990s ("Parenthood" Era):

  • Shift toward emotionally involved parenting.

  • Increasing pattern of rescuing adult children from consequences (e.g., paying off debts, raising grandchildren).

• 2000s ("Failure to Launch" Movie Era):

  • Cultural reflection of grown adults avoiding responsibility and parents over-functioning to compensate.

🔹 Lost Life Skills

• Past generations gained resilience through boredom, conflict, disappointment, and chores.

• Today’s youth often shielded from discomfort, leading to poor coping skills and low frustration tolerance.

🔹 Technology & Comfort Culture

• Boom in tech and social media created instant gratification and a low threshold for discomfort.

• Parents’ desire to ensure their child’s happiness has often led to overprotection and over-involvement.

🔹 From Caring to Caretaking

• Caring = healthy support.

• Caretaking = doing for children what they can do themselves, stunting growth and delaying independence.

• Over time, children learn to rely on parents instead of building internal coping mechanisms.

🔹 Consequences of Over-Caretaking

• Young adults lack persistence, financial responsibility, and relationship skills.

• Many have inflated expectations and low accountability.

• Common fallback = returning to parents for help with basic adult challenges.

🔹 Substance Abuse as a Complicating Factor

• Adds urgency and guilt to parental caretaking.

• Can lead to decades of dependence (e.g., adult children living at home into their 60s).

🔹 Breaking the Cycle

• Parents must stop rescuing and start teaching coping skills.

• Let children experience discomfort to build resilience and self-confidence.

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