Courting Disaster, my weekly comic about sex, love, and relationships updates every Friday. You'll laugh your pants off.This week's question...
A reader writes... Q: I have a 25-year-old boyfriend who has a decent job (and is currently in the process of improving it), very mild debt (compared to most his age) and his whole life ahead of him. The problem is, he still lives at home. Well, actually, this isn't so bad. He wants to stay until all of his debt is cleared. But what I can't stand are his parents! They baby him so much, I don't think he'd ever really leave, given the choice. His mom cooks five nights a weeks, his dad handles a majority of his finances and they both do little odds and ends things that, I feel, leave him completely clueless to how things are going to work once he's out of that set up and in the bigger world. The real issue is that I feel his parents are hindering him by doing this, and not knowing any better, he doesn't stop it. His mother has already said in passing that whoever he marries will have to handle his finances, wake him up for work, etc. Basically, take care of him like they do! It's only been six months, so I don't know if I have any right to say anything or pry into the highly volitile topic of money with him, but in the long run I don't want dependant, I want independant. I don't see myself having my first child (if any) being my significant other. True, we are FAR from that point, but if we ever get to that point, I don't want to have to take care of him like a mother would. So, should I cut my losses and run now or find a way to cut the metaphorical apron strings?
Don't answer here... go on over to the CD site and offer some advice.