When Kids Won't Fly the Coop

From FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, Today, 07 March 2008 edition

By Dr James Dobson

 

When Kids Won't Fly the Coop

 

Adolescence: A familiar term, and it doesn’t refer to the time of

sexual awakening (that’s the definition of puberty).

 

Adolescence is the age between childhood and adulthood in a

particular society.

 

Some primitive tribes have no adolescence at all. One day a

pubescent boy is treated as a child. The next day, he undergoes

the traditional rites of passage. When he returns, he’s a

full-pledged adult. For him, there is no in-between phase.

 

We – those of us living in the “modern” world – have the longest

period of adolescence in human history. It continues until the

individual is financially independent, which could be 25 years

of age for some graduate students whose parents are still paying

the bills.

 

But 10 or 15 years is a long time to be considered “not fully grown”

which accounts for some of the familiar conflict and agitation

of that era.

 

Mums and dads, of course, often get the blame for it. That’s why

my advice to parents is to “get them grown and get them gone.”