Student debt and the high cost of housing are two reasons why parents who thought they had an empty nest are suddenly finding their children now in their twenties or thirties back home.<\/p>\n
The phenomenon is being dubbed the boomerang effect, and for those parents who are finding themselves clashing with their offspring once again, parent coach and former deputy head teacher, Sue Atkins from\u00a0 www.positive-parents.com, has some advice for parents.<\/p>\n
Sue says: \u201cYoung adults are returning home to their parents as they can\u2019t afford to buy or rent their own place, this is when problems occur, not necessarily because the adult children treat the family home like a hotel, but often because they do not accept that their lifestyles clash, grate and jar horribly with those of their parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sue has these ten simple and practical tips that will make the transition to living together once again a harmonious one:<\/p>\n
1. Do remember that it is your house and your rules<\/p>\n
2. Do insist that your children make a financial contribution to the home \u2013 this will teach them to respect you as well as themselves<\/p>\n
3. Do draw up an agreement on household chores and basic house rules \u2013 then stick to them<\/p>\n
4. Do accept that you have to go through a transition in behaviour with adult children<\/p>\n
5. Do insist they tell you if they are not coming home at night and explain why you need to know, e.g. peace of mind, security so you can lock the door.<\/p>\n
6. Do set boundaries \u2013 be firm, fair, consistent and respectful.<\/p>\n
7. Don\u2019t wait on them hand and foot<\/p>\n
8. Don\u2019t treat them like teenagers and don\u2019t try to control them<\/p>\n
9. Don\u2019t forget that as parents you are role models. Make sure that both parents are on the same side, e.g. if the dad expects the mum to do all the household chores the adult child will too<\/p>\n
10. Don\u2019t let bad behaviour go unnoticed – if it upsets you then speak to them about it.\u00a0 Work out compromises, solutions and ways forward.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let resentment, anger and arguments build up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Student debt and the high cost of housing are two reasons why parents who thought they had an empty nest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bristol-news"],"yoast_head":"\n