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I’ve previously written The Peter Pan Syndrome: why some people just won’t grow up. In essence, it was The Parent Lecture: an attempt to guilt-trip kick-back partiers into becoming responsible adults. Although it was a mere blog post, it has received 300,000 views.
I’m not sure it’s defensible but because, contrary to today’s zeitgeist, there often are lessons to be learned from across the spectrum, here’s my best shot in defense of the Peter Pan Syndrome.
Sure, if you have a difficult-to-duplicate, valuable talent, whether as a psychologist, teacher, carpenter, whatever, you'd lose serious income and it would be a significant loss to society if you opted out: live with your parents, play video games, and vape your way into la-la land.
But if we’re being honest, most people are fungible: Unless you’re exceptional, if you don’t become a psychologist, teacher, or carpenter, there still are plenty of good ones to go around, including many who will be grateful to not have to compete with you for a decent job. Meanwhile, you won't have to spend a fortune on all those courses you dislike, find hard, and/or irrelevant that are required for licensure. You won't have to sit in the ever more painful commute traffic. You won't need to take crap from a boss whom you can’t imagine got the job on the merits. You'll have plenty of time to create your art, music, or creative writing, for partying and all sorts of fun, and because of the low-stress lifestyle, you’ll probably live longer.
If you opt out, you can fulfill the yearning that many people suppress: a return to childhood’s simple pleasures. You can watch silly TV, guilt-free—You know you like it even though the humor is sophomoric. You can lie on the grass for hours watching the clouds scud by, cook or bake complicated recipes just for the fun of it, zone out listening to music, buy a coast-to-coast Amtrak ticket for 200 bucks, stopping to hang out in all sorts of places, no rush, no return date required.
And hey, if your parents, spouse, or the taxpayer are willing to support you, it’s their choice, right? And if you’re okay with letting the taxpayer support you, you’ll have plenty of company. As Mitt Romney famously asserted (and it may have cost him the presidency), 47 percent of Americans rely on government assistance. As remarkable, according to a CheatSheet analysis, in 11 states, welfare recipients earn more than a beginning teacher, in 39 states, more than a beginning secretary. Move to DC or New Jersey and you’ll get $12 an hour more as a welfare recipient than with a minimum-wage job. Massachusetts? $13 an hour more. And if you can endure living in Hawaii, $20 an hour more, which is the national average salary of an electrical engineering technician.
There's a final bit of good news for the person considering opting out or for whom employers believe would add less value than a sustainable wage: The polls predict that our next president will push for free (that is, taxpayer-paid) health care and free college. So, even if you don’t have a hyper-generous parent or spouse, you’re living in America, land of the free.
