When are children no longer children?

I saw one of those Internet funnies once, which really amused me; it said ‘‘take care of your kids: one day they’ll be choosing your nursing home’’ which is only funny up to a point; it also has a scary ring of truth to it.

The subject of to what extent parents should go on ‘helping’ their kids is very much under discussion these days; with it get harder and harder for younger people to get themselves established. The burden falls increasingly on parents, especially if their children make it to university

It was far easier when l was a young fellow, just staring out. For one thing, if l’d gone to university-which l didn’t-fees were paid by the government, it the form of a grant. Now, of course, they have to take out enormous loans, which saddle them with a burden of debt for years

Even if they don’t go to university the chances of their being able to buy a property without some help are slim to non-existent, these days without a cash injection from somewhere or other usually from Mum and Dad.

The situation has been greatly exacerbated by the rise in property prices in recent years coupled with the enthusiasm of the great financial institutions for lending sums which people patently couldn’t afford to repay.

I did my bit, as all parents do when my eldest daughter wanted to buy a flat, back in 1990; we helped her out with the deposit.

When the last recession came storming in, we helped her increasingly with the costs of repaying a mortgage that grew and grew, partly out of scene of guilt because we’d encouraged her to get on the property ladder in the first place,

But also because she was doing her bit, as well she look in a lodger, worked at the weekends as a waitress, and ended up working all the hours that God sends just to pay her mortgage on a property that that was sliding deeper and deeper into negative equity.

The point being that as she was doing everything possible to help herself, the least we could do, so we rationalized was to help her too. But what about instance where the kids aren’t prepared to help themselves?

I seem to know an increasing number of parents whose hands are digging ever deeper into their pockets in order help out children who seen to think that it’s their divine right to be helped.