You are here

Q: When to put adult son out on his own?

the good the bad the ugly...mom's picture

Bio or Step, but basically an adult child.

So my eldest BS is 21 a fulltime college student, works minimal during the school year, maybe only 10-15 hours a week. During summer and winter breaks they increase his hours to about 30 hours, he receives minimum wage. For the most part he's always been a good kid/young adult, respectful, honest, etc. But he is far from perfect, he has his moments. For example, he told me the other night "mom, if you can? Put my laundry in the wash, I put it in the laundry room". I know this is already a red flag for most of you, but I have this anal issue. I don't want anyone touching the washer and dryer (or dishes). Everyone has their own bin and I ask everyone to place the clothes they want washed in the laundry room in their respective bin. That laundry will only be done once a week, it needs to be in the bins by Friday, and it will be washed and dried by Sunday night (that gives me time to analyze and plan my loads, I only wash a full load so I generally add towels or sheets or combine clothes to not quite full loads). Clean clothes go back in the bins, everyone folds and puts away their own laundry. He came to me on like a Wednesday. I'm sure he said something like sorry I forgot to put it in last weekend. Now it only takes me about 5 minutes to throw in a load and he doesn't do this often at all but I was actually pretty irritated, first he didn't really ask, second this "rule" has been in place since about age 10, and lastly his life is not that busy right now, it's summer break, and even when its not, his life is not that busy yet. With all that said, I ended up doing it two days later cuz he apologized again and even said he'd take it down to the Laundromat if I wanted but that he needed it for work.

So back story, I've always felt school is priority and as long as he is a full time student AND on track, I would want him to live with me at home and I will support him (minus his own personal expenditures, hence his part time job). So I provide the basic necessities, food, shelter, health insurance, and school expenses. He pays for his own gas, clothing, cell, etc. But sometimes I feel like that is not enough to teach him real life surviving basics.

I was 18 when I moved out on my own, maybe 6 months after graduating high school. I worked full time for just above minimum wage at the time. I tried going to college part time, but found myself pregnant and, for me, it was just too difficult to juggle work, school, and newborn. So I dropped out of college and attended a trade school. Struggled for years before finally working my way up to not-quite-the-top, but comfortable. Long story short, I took the more difficult road and often think that if I'd been encouraged to stay in school full time, be able to live at home, then maybe I would be more successful career-wise and provide a better life for my kids and future. But at the same time, I've learned so much being on my own, the struggles I went through taught me skills I never would've learned at home. Its totally priceless but shoot wow if I had mommy and daddy to fall back on, I probably would've really enjoyed my twenty-somethings...

So question: should I do more to encourage his independence and self reliance, let him out in the world and fend for himself, deal with life to prepare for life. Or maybe should I charge him rent, make him do his own laundry at the Laundromat, let him buy his own food, etc. I feel like I might be failing him by supporting him this much but at the same time I don't want him to give up on school either cuz he thinks he has to work more, you know what I mean?
Or am I making a big deal out of nothing, like I said its not often that "he forgets", he's generally a good kid like I said, he even still tells me when he's going out, what time he's coming home, where he's going. Are my worries pretty normal?

Also I do know that not everyone learns from experience or from life period. A girlfriend I had years ago, coincidently her life path was very similar to mine, except she was very co-dependent. Her and her then SO broke up and instead of looking for her own place, she reached out first to all friends and family for a room to rent. She gave the "6 months until I save enough to get on my feet" and I caved, I rented her a room for 400 which included food and before and after care for her son. Her and her son probably ate about 200 worth at least. So when 6 months came, apparently she hadn't saved a dime and then just moved in with another friend. We are no longer that close, she has really not learned much in her 40 years of life and is still pretty dependent on people.

Rags's picture

What is your objective for your son? That will guide you to your answer.

If your objective is to get him through his degree then the status quo is the answer.

If your objective is to get him launched and on his own soon. Then putting him out to be on his own is the answer.

There are also any number of intermediate answers depending on what the details of your objectives for him are.

School seems to be going well and he is generally following the rules you have set. Have you had a change in your own objectives that necessitates a change in his living situation?

My bride and I came to the conclusion that our kid (my SS-21) was not going to launch on his own to either get a job or get in to college if we did not create a burning platform for him and force him to jump. So we set his comfort zone on fire (figuratively of course). He still struggles with a maturity deficite though he is a brilliant young man of increasing character. We arrived at the conclusion that our job was to get him educated and he could grow up on his own time and on his own dime after that. Our plan failed since he would not get in to college so we threw more fuel on the burning platform and he joined the USAF where he is thriving.

Our basic plan was sound and he is maturing on his own time and on his own dime. He is also working on his degree which was our goal to begin with. Not as quickly as we would like but he is providing that for himself as part of his service benefits.

So, what is your objective for your son?

AllySkoo's picture

It sounds like you're questioning whether your son will be able to fend for himself after college?

My take on it is this - your son is responsible for his own cell phone, job, and maintaining his grades. He does these things satisfactorily. I suspect that he will also manage his own laundry and rent payments equally well when the time comes. Asking Mom to do laundry (when you've made it clear he's not to touch your laundry machines!) on a "non laundry day" isn't really THAT much cause for concern! Smile

Rags's picture

I liiiike it!

Similar to what we did with my Skid. He chose to go in a different direction than his mom and I guided him towards. We told him to get in to college and we would pay for tuition, books, fees, room, board, give him a car and fund his car. He was honest and told us he was not ready to study or mature enough to stay focused and we would just be wasting our money. I respect him for that. I tried the same thing when I was his age but my parents would have none of it and pretty much forced me to go to college. I very energetically wasted their money.

We told the Skid that if he was not in school he could live at home rent free but he had to have a full time job. Nope, he was not interested in that. So we made him our live in beck and call boy and chore bitch. We worked his ass off. He did it all, laundry, cleaning, cooking, and when he was done for the day we had him do it all again.

He tolerated that for about 4 mos then singed up for delayed entry with the USAF. We kept him heavily engaged as our beck and call boy/chore bitch until he reported for BMT. Since he scored well on the ASVAB, selected a high security clearance professional role with extensive training, signed up for 6 years, and the USAF would be paying his college costs we gave him a new car. That was the last thing we could do to help him launch.

He recently completed year 3 of 6 and he is doing great and making his mom and I very proud.

The key is what you are doing which is to have their backs but provide a burning platform that forces the kids to launch or singe their tail feathers. Sometimes we parents have to be the ones holding the torch to their backsides.

tabby yabba do's picture

IMHO you're doing it right. I wouldn't change what's working and would have faith your DS is going to launch successfully. His basic foundation sounds stellar (honest, respectful, friendly, committed to his goals) - he'll build on that and be just fine.

Smile Good job, mom.

the good the bad the ugly...mom's picture

Thank you all for your support! I truly appreciate it.

I think I panicked over something small and turned it into "his doomed adult life..." for no reason.
And I also I think I let other people's past opinions/suggestions get the best of me (my SO, my exH, even my father), that DS should do more, be responsible for more, that I am doing too much and he will fail in life because of that. They can kiss my ass then.

I'm over it..."I forgot" is no longer making me a paranoid mom...