I hope you realize that parenting skills like yours make a generation of lazy, non-self-sufficient 20-somethings with no grasp on responsibility and a huge sense of entitlement.

Then when 20-somethings like me, who worked their butts off all four years of high school to save for college and then spent all their own money to pay for it, go out job-hunting, we get to see the disapproval in the faces of prospective employers. "Oh, you look like you're in your 20s," their faces say. "God, not another irresponsible, lazy kid. Next applicant, please."

Thanks for manufacturing kids who ruin it for those of us who are hard-working and responsible, who watch their rental applications get passed over and who have to struggle to land a job. We really appreciate it.

Having worked with people (of various ages) raised this way, I agree it's frustrating. In the workplace, they don't like to do what they don't like to do and expect others to do it for them. I'd like to say, "I'm not your mommy," but chances are that there's someone who pities their attitude and expects others to pick up the slack. I have a feeling it's not a generational issue, but a classic one.

This coddled man-child and his overbearing mama are indeed infuriating, but unfortunately this case isn't all that unusual. I teach at a college, and I sometimes get emails from alpha mommies asking about their adult children's grades and why they are doing so poorly. (These emails always get the same reply: it's the responsibility of the adult child to make an apointment with me to discuss any concerns he/she may be having). Similarly, my department head has received calls from alpha mommies trying to set up meetings regarding their adult children--some of whom are well over 20 and almost the same age as many of the TAs.

Certainly not all kids from a coddled, privileged background are this spoiled, but all too many seem stuck in an extended adolescence that can last until they're 30 and and beyond. Going by my current students and my own memories of student life, the most responsible kids are those who come from a working or middle class background and who have to finance their own way through college with student loans and summer jobs.

This article explains a lot of behavior I've seen in many of the guys I've dated in my twenties: slacker drop-outs living with their parents, confused by such abstract concepts as paying bills on time or staying gainfully employed, yet they all have an XBox hooked up to a flat-screen TV with surround-sound speakers. Thanks for raising a generation of men who will always need their mommies.

Why would you date those idiots? I know of a few hard-working twentysomethings who saved profusely, have houses that are completely paid off, and drive cars more than 10 years old. They have the hardest time competing with these stoner/slackers for the affections of women in their age group. Maybe they just don't have the surround sound that you're looking for.

Well, someone has issues.

I dated these people in my twenties and I think I'm allowed to date a few morons when I'm that young. And maybe these slackers, flawed as they were, were infinitely more attractive than a financially-sound guy with a big damn chip on his shoulder who complains about how no women like him. Or maybe I'm not the kind of girl they're looking for.