Something that has become very obvious to me is that the parents have a very strong influence in their (in some standards) grown-up kids’ lives over here. I’d say that very close to a 100% of the 18-23 year olds, namely the students, live with their parents.Parents hold a significant role in the decision making of their post teens. They influence decisions like which field of studies to take, which clubs to join, what job to take, with who to socialize, where to travel (if to travel at all) etc. Obviously money is a big nominator in a country where not all opportunities are equally divided. So parents want to see some “return on investment”.

I was conducting membership interviews where there were questions like what is the most challenging goal you have reached or tell us about a decision you made, and very often the answers went around discussing with the parents’, or listening to the parents, or raising against the parents’ opinions etc. The fact that someone had chosen a career less favored by the parents was a very common example of a tough decision made.

Obviously for my Nordic nature being so involved with the parents after turning 18 is strange.  I mean back home, in some cases the parents in fact even wait for the 18th birthday so they are not anymore legally bound to support their kids.  Harsh, huh! While that kind of behaviour is definitely extreme, it is still common that the kids are eagerly moving out to their own place and will work hard to gain independency from their parents.  Being a “mom’s little boy/girl” is an image everyone want’s to resist and so, many people avoid visiting their parents too often. Striving for independence is the value people are (I’d even dare to say rather agressively) brought up to.

All in all, while being here, I do admire the people’s habit of listening to their parents and in general the culture of family orientation. Gotta admit that very often the old folks’ talks do make sense.