Breaking from parental support is a matter of many factors more than age and civil status. Our laws recognize the age of majority as the beginning of emancipation. But such age is quite off from reality as it still is within the schooling age level. The empirical legislative determination of such age is very evident from such law. It does not coincide with related laws regarding school-going age and the minimum age for professionals. Children are required to be seven years of age to start schooling at grade one. If the child will pursue schooling continuously until college that would make the child a college graduate by about twenty-one on a four-year course or at twenty-two if one takes a five-year course.
The graduate has still to spend another year in review for licensure examinations and countless years more to find a gainful employment. In some cases where the person pursues education in accelerated mode and graduates from college years earlier, he would be halted to stagnation until the age of twenty-one when he can qualify to become a licensed professional. This brings us to the age of twenty-one as the mean age for a leap into professional life. But such age is not in any way equivalent to the real and actual age when the person finally practices his profession by employment for such is too remote and unrelated from any age level.
Quite surprisingly, the same law allows people to enter into marriage at the age of emancipation. As discussed above, that still is within the school-going age level when the person is too far from becoming a professional and still much farther having gainful employment. Although the age of emancipation and that of marriage are the same and way above the age of reproduction, the same does not afford emancipation in the real sense. In most cases, the person who enters into marriage by mere age qualification is still dependent from parental support.
But there are those who, even if married, still opt to stay with parents. The decision to stay is not much because of dependence on parents but to live with and give care to aging parents. While to some extent children still share in the graces for living with parents, such is just natural as both parties share in the obligation to support each other. Emancipated, grown up and financially independent children who choose to live with parents do so not much to benefit from parental graces but to provide support and intimate care only kin could offer.
Under our social setup, it is not uncommon for children and even down to grandchildren live with parents, often due to dependence caused by the late real emancipation discussed at the outset. But there are those who stay with parents for good, not out of dependence from parents but to give genuine love, support and care for aging parents who at times even ask their children to stay and live with them. This is a great sacrifice on the part of children who heed the plea of their aging parents instead of being free to find greener pasture and better fortune away from home. In such cases, emancipation could not be measured on a person’s choice to stay and live with parents for such decision may in reality be an act of love to serve as genuine caregivers to aging parents.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com
