Remember when you first brought that sweet newborn into your fully baby-proofed home, complete with corner protectors on every piece of furniture even though this sweet little bundle of joy couldn’t even crawl? You held him in your arms and promised with every ounce of your being to protect him and give him the best life possible.
Fast forward 18 years. You still want him to have the best life possible but some place other than your home, thankyouverymuch. In fact, in a recent poll by CIBC, 47% of the 3,021 Canadians surveyed are willing to pay a big chunk of cash, to the tune of $24,000, to help kids spread their wings and get the hell out of the nest.
If you are entering, or are already wading knee deep, into the sandwich generation this is not a surprise. Adult kids are staying at home longer because they can’t afford to move out. In the meantime, we’re also taking care of our parents who are getting along in years.
Basically, we’re exhausted, so it’s no surprise we’re willing to fork out the cash to get a reprieve.
While I feel for today’s young adults, the housing market is a complete shit show; maybe expectations need to be lowered just a little bit.
I certainly didn’t start out with a three-bedroom house. From the time I was 18 until now, there were more than a few sketchy apartments, countless packages of Ramen noodles, and a few roommates from hell thrown in for good measure.
There was also a very memorable first year of marriage when my new husband and I lived in the back of our men’s clothing store while we waited for our 800-square foot condo to be built.
In order to make coffee in the morning I first had to call my husband at the front of the store to make sure nobody was in the change room which was the only way to get to our kitchen.
One morning my husband didn’t answer, but I decided to give it shot because pre-caf me needed to become fully-caff’d. Bad choice.
I walked in on a very nice man in his underwear.
Needless to say, half-naked guy didn’t buy the suit, and quite frankly we were lucky he didn’t charge me with being a peeping Tom.
I skipped the coffee that day and went straight to the tequila.
True story.
While the CIBC poll was created to educate Canadians on gifting money to family, friends or charities, there are much better ways to spend $24,000 that will still result in getting rid of encouraging your kids to move out.
Namely: $23,800 worth of wine and new locks for your doors.
It’s a hard lesson, but adulting sometimes consists of basement apartments, cinderblock bookshelves, and the occasional half-naked man in a changeroom. These are the things that build character.
Plus, there’s always tequila.
Editor's note: If you must and if wine is not your jam, you can also salve your guilt by giving them a couple thou so they can skip ramen once in a while and then go take a nice vacation in Tahiti.
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