Failure To Launch?

Leaving home after school or university should be an exciting time in your adult child’s life, but it’s not always easy. prepare your teen for lift off! 

With eight out of ten 18-24-year-olds and as many as a third of 25-34-year-olds still living at home, many parents are feeling frustrated and at a loss. They question whether they’ve failed as parents or (worse yet) start to wonder if there’s something wrong with their child. It becomes not only emotionally draining, but sometimes financially draining on the family unit too. Experts have labelled it ‘failure to launch syndrome’, a term used to describe the difficulties some young adults face when transitioning into the next phase of their lives, where they require a greater sense of independence and responsibility.

Joburg-based educational psychologist, Lauren Dace, explains, ‘When you consider the school environment, your child’s day is planned out. From the subjects they study to the extramurals they take part in after school – it’s all prescribed. You have to ask how many children are made aware of how they function as individuals. So when it comes to that transition – of having to leave home – it’s an incredibly overwhelming process,’ she says.

‘They know who they are within their peer group and within their sports groups, but who are they outside of that? In the subject and career assessments I do with children, it boils down to the fact that they aren’t sure of their own strengths and interests. I always say you’ve got to understand how you, as a person in isolation, fit into the world, and a lot of children haven’t been encouraged to explore that.’