There is a new stage of development for parents to consider.
The stages of development are roughly the following: children move from infancy, to early childhood and onwards to middle childhood. These stages take roughly the first ten or so years of life. Our children then move into a long stage known as adolescence (with a number three sub-stages) that is a transition phase into adulthood. Thats it, right?
No, it seems that we have another phase that links adolescence with adulthood. The twenty-first birthday used to signify a move into adulthood and all its accompanying privileges and responsibilities. Now the years from 18 until 25 and beyond seem to have become a distinct stage of life, where young people seem to have lodged for a while, staving off the responsibilities of full adulthood. This phase has been dubbed the Twixter stage.
This group has been on the radar for some years but it seems only now that they are reaching significant status of a sub-culture. They have been variously dubbed permakids, boomerang kids and adultescence. Their babyboomer parents dont want to grow old they dont want to grow up.
Twixters have put many of the...