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Friday 18 July 2003
PARENTS SHELL OUT TO HELP CHILDREN AND RECLAIM THEIR HOME
Exasperated parents are handing over thousands of pounds to encourage their grown-up children to leave the comforts of the home and take their first step onto the property ladder.
According to new research from Skipton Building Society, helping ‘twenty-something’ children fly the nest costs UK mums and dads an average of £8,0001 - a potential cost of £16 billion2 nationwide.
In a bid to cut the apron strings, resourceful parents are exploring a multitude of ways to fund their children’s independence. Close to one in five (18 per cent) have dipped into their child’s inheritance funds and almost a third (30 per cent) have given cash to their fortunate offspring. A further one in five parents are willing to go into the red for their children and are considering taking out a personal loan to help them.
Not surprisingly, more than a third of adults still living at home are doing so because they like their home comforts too much, although a third (30 per cent) admit high property prices leave them with little other choice.
For some, the extent to which parents are helping out their kids is causing marital friction, with close to a third (31 per cent) of couples arguing over whether they should stump up to help their kids move out. This domestic discord can only be made worse by the quarter of parents (23 per cent) who would give money to their grown-up children without telling their partner. Mothers are a particularly soft touch - 27 per cent secretly dish out the dosh compared to just 14 per cent of dads.
Parents will also go to any length to try and help their child to move out of the family home. Close to a quarter (23 per cent) of parents have forgone their annual holiday, opting instead to channel funds into getting their children onto the property ladder. And one in 10 have missed debt repayments in order to hand over cash for children to go it alone.
However, financial pay-offs are not the only sacrifice parents are making. Old habits die hard and a whopping 88 per cent of kind-hearted mums are still washing their grown-up children’s clothes while 86 per cent make sure their loved ones come home to a hot meal.
Jennifer Holloway, head of media relations at Skipton Building Society, said: "There are a number of reasons why so many grown-up children are still living at home, including the fact that the parents may want them to stay. But a big issue is that rising house prices mean that many young people can't afford to leave the family home. Saving for a deposit can be difficult, but when only a third of parents ask for their adult children to make a contribution to household bills or to pay rent, and with meals being cooked and laundry being done, staying at home must seem like the sensible option. Every parent wants to help their child, but it seems that some will go to great lengths to help them fly the nest."
Skipton Building Society will be hosting special ’Parents' Evenings‘ in selected branches across the UK to offer practical and financial advice to mums and dads to help them encourage their grown up children onto the property ladder.
Ends
Editor's Notes
1 The £8,000 is made up of an average of £5,000 parents are giving children to buy their own property plus an extra £3,000 a year parents are having to spend keeping grown-up children at home.
2 £16 billion is based on the Office of National Statistics Census 2003 figure of 2,031,002households in England and Wales with grown-up children
Methodology:
- The research was carried out on tickbox.net and in total 534 parents across the UK with grown-up children (18 and over) living at home were questioned in June 2003.
- Additional research was carried out on gm.tv in May 2003. In total a sample size of 692 parents across the UK with grown-up children living at home were surveyed.
Famous examples of kids who choose to stay with mum and dad:
- Nicholas Lyndhurst and Andrew Hall, aka Adam and Russell Parkinson, had their feet under the table in hit TV comedy ‘Butterflies’
- Timothy Lumsden (Ronnie Corbett) in acclaimed comedy ‘Sorry’ was too henpecked to flee the nest
- Nellie (Jean Boht) in ‘Bread’ used tradition as the reason to keep her flock at home
- The infamous ‘Eastender’ Slater girls refuse to let even marriage uproot them from the family home
- Norman Bates, ‘Psycho’, failed to leave the clutches of his invalid mother
Quote:
Bill Cosby: "Human beings are the only creatures on the planet who allow their young to return home once they've left."
For further information journalists should contact the Skipton Press Office.