Returning to Cosa Bolle, last spring I wrote about the problems besetting Italian families, in particular the extended adolescence that the majority of Italian children, especially males, choose to enjoy, staying under the parental roof until they are well into their thirties. As one might expect, Government agencies and those involved with family and social problems are quite worried about the situation, and are doing all they can to get these kids to sever their umbilical cords and strike out on their own. Not the courts, however; a couple of weeks ago the judges declared that a wealthy divorced Neapolitan had to continue to support his 29-year-old son, to the tune of 1500 Euros a month (about 1500 dollars) despite the fact that the boy graduated from law school with top honors and has turned down several handsome job offers -- he hadn't yet found the "perfect job" and wanted to be supported until he did.

In the US (or northern Europe, for that matter) a thirty-year-old employable child will likely be told he is on his own. Instead, the Italian courts backed him up, ruling that the employment has to match the child's expectations, and if nothing comes along that does the parents have to continue to support the child even if he or she is turning down good offers. There's something seriously flawed with this ruling; as observers were quick to point out: Rather than motivate the adult child to get out and get cracking the ruling lets him or her settle even more comfortably onto the parental shoulders -- no job is without flaws, and even if the offer is handsome the child with high expectations can find some aspect that isn't quite right and decide to wait for something better. In the meantime others accept the offers, growing into positions where they can devise what's perfect for them, and by the time the child's "perfect" job comes up the chances are there will be other people with a lot more experience and better connections made on-the-job competing for it.

At which point the winning candidate may well not be the child; the court's ruling may have pleased him now, but it could result in much unhappiness in the future, and it certainly sent a shudder through a great many Italian households whose elder members now fear they may never get the kid(s) out from under their roof.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine

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