Parenting advice is plentiful for parents with babies, school-age children, and teens. Once kids leave the nest, it’s largely accepted that parents step back as their young adults forge into adulthood. Today’s generational baton pass takes longer than it used to, however. Empty nests are open nests where adult children come and go. On the very cusp of young adulthood, and arguably the most decision-laden decade of a person’s life, the roster of expert advice to parents evaporates, leaving parents wondering how best to support the needs of their twentysomethings. In You’re Not Done Yet: Parenting Young Adults in an Age of Uncertainty adolescent and young adult mental health experts B. Janet Hibbs, M.F.T., Ph.D. and Anthony Rostain, M.D., M.A. fill this guidance gap by providing a clear-eyed, optimistic guide for parents with adult children who need help navigating the many challenges to launching an independent life—and who may be pleasantly surprised or mildly alarmed at this unexpected extension of parenting. The five markers of adulthood—completing education, obtaining a job and settling into a career, living independently, finding a partner, and becoming a parent—were defined by sociologists in the 1950s. Despite social and economic conditions changing drastically between then and now, twentysomethings are still judged on their success (or failure) in checking these off by the time they reach their 30s. Hibbs and Rostain argue these markers are long past their expiration date. They explain the cultural shifts and unprecedented societal forces that parents and young adults face today in order to help them embrace a new normal.
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