Children should leave home at 18

[Miss Demeanour]

Italian minister Renato Brunetta's has made attempts to address the problem of his nation's bamboccione, or stay-at-home big babies.

They are known as the eternal adolescents, young men and women who live in the family home while having their underwear washed and pasta cooked by their devoted and ? until now ? unquestioning mammas and papas. But now Italy is attempting to force its vast generation of bamboccioni (mother?s boys and girls) to find their own way in the world.

A government minister who admits that his mother made his bed for him until he was 30 years old, is demanding a law obliging young Italians to leave the parental nest at 18 to stop them from becoming hopelessly dependent on their parents.

Renato Brunetta, the Minister for Public Administration, made the proposal after a court judgment in Bergamo forced Giancarlo Casagranda, a divorced father, to pay ?350 (?310) a month for the continued upkeep of his daughter Martina, 32, who has been a student of philosophy since 2002.

Compared with their other European compatriots, Italians are massively reliant on their mothers and fathers, with 59 per cent of men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 still living at home, according to La Stampa. This is in contrast to 34-5 per cent in Britain, 10 per cent in Spain, 16.5 per cent in Germany, 23 per cent in France, and an EU average of 29 per cent.

34% of 18-34 yr olds still live at home in Britain 

I can't see this getting any better with the cost of house prices or renting 

I may have to plan my own exit strategy first then 

I left home at 18 , went to Uni and have never lived there since. Even when I go and visit you just find yourself reverting into your old roles and it feels mightily uncomfortable at times . I love my mother dearly but if I had to live with her again I would not be a happy bunny

[Barman]

34% of 18-34 yr olds still live at home in Britain 

 

[Nick]

I find this disturbing. Circumstances may have changed but all three of us left home at 18 and never went back. We lived on small salaries or eked out student grants (?625 pa for me in 1974  ) and then went on sharing flats and stuff till we could afford to buy. I was 32 when I bought my flat.

I am not sure that this is about money. It's a bout mollycoddling.

Also shagging oppurtunities were much reduced if you stayed at home 

I owe my bad back to a fortnight spent chez my parents one Christmas and the need to seek refuge  in  a Hillman Imp