Cultural Differences
My family is from Peru, and the one big difference that I've noticed is the age at which children tend to leave the home if at all.
In the Peruvian culture children usually don't move out of their parents home till much after they leave school. Usually children will stay in their parents home at least until marriage. Some of my cousins have even moved in with their spouses' families. I don't think you can say the same of American Culture. It would be rare if a person would move in with their spouse's family right after marriage in the U.S. Usually a person would already live alone well before they got married.
One of the reasons for this can be the fact that although our employment here is bad, in Peru it is a lot worse. Most college graduates don't get jobs right after graduation, and those that do sometimes have to start on a 3 - 6 month contractual basis. This of course leads to job insecurity and not being able to depend on steady income. This probably encourages young adults in Peru to stay home longer and save money that way.
However, people tend to get steady employment at a younger age. This leads them to start feeling financially independent and being able to think about living on their own. That plus the way media portrays young people living on their own and enjoying the single life. This makes most of us want to experience life as a single independent adult. We don not have to wait till marriage to be independent we can do it on our own and try to leave the nest earlier, if you will.
Since people in Peru don't have those opportunities they stay longer under their parent's roofs than we do here.
Jorge,
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see what you are saying about Americans getting out of the house early, and quite often too early. Just from my family alone you can see the difference that you mention. I am the youngest child in my family at 20 with 3 older siblings and none of us live with my parents.
From my experiences I can see why many people in Peru choose to stay at home longer, for the reasons that you mentioned. It is a lot more stable and you have a lot less worries. That being said I think getting out of the house early helps many people mature and grow up faster
What you are saying is really true. I rarely see this happening in China, where some people are still living with the parents at the age of 30. I agree with you that unemployment is the main factor.
ReplyDeleteI happen to agree with you. I think that Americans are so focused on leaving home and starting their lives on their own. Like you mentioned I think it is good because it allows people to branch out from their families and really explore and find themselves. However, I do believe that at the same time it is nice to live with the family until you are truly capable to move out. The stress of meeting your every day expenses doesn't seem to be worth the freedom.
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