<p>A bit off topic, but hopefully of interest… during the parents’ portion of our daughter’s orientation days at UW Madison, the presenter asked our group of parents “How many of you shared a bedroom when you were growing up?”. Most parents raised their hands. Then he asked “How many of your children shared a bedroom?” Few raised their hands. The presenter pointed out that because of smaller families and larger homes, fewer young people have learned how to get along with roommates at home. Learning how to get along with roommates at close quarters could be a bit of a challenge for some freshman, he said.</p>
<p>Again, only slightly related to the OP’s topic, one thing that has been gratifying to us as the parents of three children has been to see how well they interact with each other now that they’ve grown up. The youngest is 18, the oldest 26. They like each other, and help each other out with the various projects they encounter in life. They choose to spend time together.</p>
<p>For example, my youngest, our 18 year old daughter never seemed interested in little kids or babies as she was growing up. She turned down chances to babysit for neighbors etc. Now her oldest brother and sister-in-law have a 10 month old boy. Luckily they live only 30 minutes from us, and my daughter adores the little one. Tonight she’ll babysit for my oldest and his wife, and they’ll get a well deserved night off.</p>
<p>This makes me feel like we must have done something right, parenting wise.</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for provoking these thoughts, sorry that they’re a bit off topic.</p>