Are all you Italians "Mama's Boys" ?? ;)

[Ripsnort]

So, where do our Italian friends of AH stand on this issue?  Anyone here over the age of 18 still hanging on to the apron strings of their mother?

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20020405_116.html

ROME (Reuters) - In a ruling that has sent a shiver down many
                                     parents' spines, Italy's highest appeals court has decreed that
                                     fathers must carry on supporting adult children until they find a
                                     job to their liking.

                                     Psychologists warned that the decision could discourage people
                                     from having children in a country whose birthrate is already one
                                     of the lowest in the world, while commentators said it could
                                     boost Italy's already high unemployment rate.

                                     The case revolves around a wealthy family in the southern city
                                     of Naples, where the father is still paying some $680 a month in
                                     maintenance to a son who is in his 30s and has a university law
                                     degree.

                 The son also has a trust fund worth some $220,000, lives in one of the smartest parts of the
                 city, and has turned down several job offers.

                 But the court ruled that the father, Giuseppe Andreoli, who is a former parliamentarian and a
                 respected Neapolitan medic, should carry on supporting his estranged son. "You cannot blame a
                 young person, particularly from a well-off family, who refuses a job that does not fit his
                 aspirations. The parents have to pay for their upkeep," said the court in a verdict handed down
                 earlier this week.

                 Andreoli said on Friday he was shocked by the decision.

                 "I feel disgust for a country that I love. It wasn't always like this," he told Reuters.

                 "MUMMY'S BOYS"

                 The ruling struck a chord in Italy where almost one in three people aged between 30 and 34 still
                 live with their parents, preferring home comforts and mothers' cooking to the challenge of striking
                 out alone.

                 "This decision sets a dangerous precedent," said psychologist Gianna Schelotto. "Up until the
                 1980s, young people wanted emancipation from their families even if it meant going out and
                 cleaning dishes. Today, 30-year-olds still feel young and aren't prepared to make sacrifices."

                 The growing reluctance to cut the apron strings has coincided with a falling birthrate, now put at
                 less than 1.2 children per woman -- the lowest level in Italian history.

                 "Italy is faced by a deep cultural problem. Young people enjoy a great quality of life and
                 enormous freedom by staying at home. Without enormous incentives, why should they leave?"
                 said Riccardo Grassi, who works for the Milan IARD research institute which specializes in
                 youth issues.

                 The problem is compounded by the fact that it often takes years to complete a university degree
                 in Italy, graduates' starting salaries tend to be low and, unlike elsewhere in Europe, the
                 government offers little financial help to young parents. Labor Minister Roberto Maroni said on
                 Thursday he was drafting a bill to offer tax cuts to newly-weds with an eye to boosting the
                 birthrate.

                 But social commentators said the appeals' court ruling went in the opposite direction and would
                 encourage children to stay at home rather than go out and find a job or start a family.

                 "Without seeking to, this (ruling) represents a pernicious obstacle to matrimony, which is
                 essential to an ordered society and to the reproduction of the race," Rome's Il Messaggero
                 newspaper thundered on Friday.

[Hangtime]

Saw some moronic tv report on this subject awile ago.

seemed to me like they was tryin to make somethin outta nothin. ..and I bet you'd still be livin at home if yah had no wife, and yer ma was willin to wait on yah hand and foot. most american men marry their mom's young clones and carry on the same way italians do... or would if they could, and squeak about it if they don't.

[mietla]

this is f*k nuts

[midnight Target]

This is why we came over ona da boat.

[mauser]

Wow... I waited till last year (when I was about to turn 27, sorry not Italian btw) to move out of my parents home into my own apartment.  And I thought I was late.  

I had been under the impression that most of you folks living on the mainland made your kids go on alone after high school graduation.  Folks here seem to be more sheltering (possibly an asian thing, dunno) and don't mind their kids hanging around till their 30s.  I had always planned to leave as soon as I thought I could buy my own place because my parent's apartment is actually too small for 4 adults, I figured I'd lessen the burden on them, and my younger brother isn't even close to being able to move out (not due to age, but more due to... priorities? habits?).  

To have parents choose to let their kids stay is one thing, but having your government tell you that you have to is kinda going too far.  Oh well...

mauser

[Dinger]

Yeah, I've seen crap like this about the cult of the mammone both here and in Italy.
There's a huge cultural difference here folks, and it goes back to as long as we have records of it (roughly 900 years for those of you scoring at home).
Thee are plenty of explanations we can give (such as the difference in cost for constructing a peasant dwelling), but the net result is that NW Europe and S Europe have different concepts of family, different marriage patterns, and different habits with respect to residence.
It's not simply that Italians today are finding it more comfortable to stay at home than go out in the world.  It's always been that way, and the society itself is structured around this being the norm.  Why do you think salaries for people in their twenties are so low?  Because they're expected to stay at home.

[Eagler]

at 16 you give them a key to the house ....

at 18 you change the locks

[capt. apathy]

brake their dinner plate at 18 (ok you can let them finish highschool first).

i graduated highschool on a thursday and was moving into my own apartment on the following monday.

my little brother did the permanent teenager thing till he was 30.  I never could understand it, I'd rather be broke under my own roof than comfortable under someone elses.

[Hortlund]

Pansies...I left when I was 17.

[midnight Target]

IIRC you can be held responsible for an indigent adult child here in the States. For instance you may be held liable for public assistance money.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Hortlund
Pansies...I left when I was 17.

Same, then 6 months later I moved 1700 miles away from the nearest relative..with $100 and a suitcase full of clothes.

[hblair]

That really is a strange culture. I couldn't imagine living at home as an adult.

[Nifty]

Originally posted by Ripsnort


Same, then 6 months later I moved 1700 miles away from the nearest relative..with $100 and a suitcase full of clothes.

rip you forgot to add "and now I drive a BMW!"  

[Ripsnort]

Nifty, FYI: I hated BMW for years, always thought of it as a "status symbol" for yuppies (Understand that I'm a country boy-red neck type)...then a friend dropped by one week-end and left his "yuppie-mobile" in my driveway with the keys while he borrowed my truck for moving some crap...the rest is history..

[Raubvogel]

Originally posted by mauser
 Folks here seem to be more sheltering (possibly an asian thing, dunno) and don't mind their kids hanging around till their 30s

Yeah no watermelon Mauser, I was amazed at how many houses in Hawaii have like 10 cars parked in front and 3 generations living inside. I dunno how they do it. I left home at 17 and never looked back. I couldn't imagine anyone staying at home until 30. My kids have both been forewarned...18 and out. They can go to college, but it's going to be one that's out of town