“You’re ruining my life!” the teenager shouted at her mom and slammed out of the room after his/her mother’s complaints. The next scene, as we can guess, is of the teenage packing his/her clothes to move out of the house. However, this is not the norm for Oriental culture, or Vietnamese, in particular. No matter how serious the quarrel is, the children will be reconciled with their parents and live under the same roof with them. So, which way is better: to live with your parents or to live on your own? Whether you choose the first or the latter way, there are three points that you have to consider: the freedom, the responsibility, and the social relationship.

The common reason for teenagers to leave their parents is freedom. When living with parents, you cannot do whatever you like. Partying with friends or dating out with lovers into the night, etc is out of the question. Everything has to go according to the rules. The young people consider it a torture and dream for a day when they can fly the coop. However, living on your own allows you to come and go no matter if it’s day or night. There are no more curfews imposed by your parents or the sight of them standing outside of the door waiting to yell before you can say a word.

Living on your own also means having to take total responsibilities for your life. Instead of staying at home being fed by parents, you have to go out to make some money for the many kinds of monthly bills: house rent, electricity, gas, cell phone, etc. Not only is there just the financial burden, there are also the house chores that add to your hectic college life. In contrast, by living with your parents, you can benefit from the rent-free house. This helps to have more time to concentrate on your study rather than seeking for jobs to make ends meet. Furthermore, your parents are there to share the cleaning, cooking, and the laundry with you.

The last difference is about the social relationship. By living with your parents, you always have someone to lean on whenever having any problems. This makes you dependent on your parents not a sociable person. On the contrary, living in a share house will enable you to interact with many kinds of people, thus, having many social relationships. Sometimes, you will never know that you may get a job thanks for one of these relationships that you’ve built.

I suppose it also depends on the relationship you have with your parents to decide which solution is the best. Living on your own is not about getting away from your parents but about time to be exposed to a whole new world ahead. So if you have yet to prepare, stay with them! Don’t grow up too fast or you will find yourselves in misery.

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admin on June 2nd, 2008 | File Under Comparative Essay | -