Is this such a bad thing? In places like Japan and Hawaii this has been a common practice for a long time. As long as the younger generation is contributing to the household in someway (working, helping out around the house or helping to provide care for younger or elderly family members etc) and not living in the basement and playing video games 24-7, it seems like a far better arrangement. Talk to almost any elderly people living alone and you'll find they are terribly lonely, and that seems to be a complaint with a lot of Millennials as well. If you have no plans to marry and start a family of your own in the near future why not live with you parents?
There's a difference between living with your parents because it's more practical and living with your parents because it's all you can afford. It's fine to create a society that values taking care of parents as they age, but not okay to create one where parents are taken care of because their children have no other choice. I also have a hard time calling the parents of a 26-year-old "elderly." Young adults today don't hate their parents, they just want the same opportunities they had.
I'm a recent empty-nester, my kids are all in their late teens/early twenties, I wouldn't count myself as elderly either. I wouldn't mind at all if one or more of my kids moved back in with us long term, provided that they helped around the house and preferably were employed in some manner and could pay a bit of rent. I think where people have problems is when adult children are living at home and not working and are not really contributing members of the household. Heck I'd even be willing to support an adult child financially for quit a while if they were willing to really help with household tasks, like cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, yard work etc. I'm not interested in supporting an adult child that just wants to do nothing all day and be taken care of like they are 10 years old the rest of their life, and that seems to be a common occurrence these days as well.
I do think it's sad that modern society has kind of dismantled the extended family. That it's become such a faux pas to have multiple generations living under the same roof. Instead it somehow makes sense to leave our small children with complete strangers for most of the day and have our young adults living alone in apartments scarcely bigger than a box a continent away in the name of starting careers. I honestly think we are overdue for a reversal in some of these trends.
My interpretation (which could be completely wrong) is that people perceive a difference between "living with your parents" and "your parents living with you".
I think it's a matter of who is the head of the household (i.e. the person who is pulling the most weight regarding the financial stability of the household). So "young adults living with their parents" is interpreted as "young adults not becoming functioning members of society"
That said, I agree pretty much entirely with your comment.
