SECOND CHILDHOOD WHAT I T’S LIKE MOVING BACK HOME

Last month, at the age of 25, I moved back home with my parents in west London after six years of living away.

The hardest thing to get used to is the incessant questions. “Are you going to be in for dinner?” “Have you got your keys?” “Are you sure you don’t need a coat?” “Are you planning on unstacking the dishwasher any time soon?” “Have you taken my umbrella again?” And on and on.

You’ve lived away for some time now – years, maybe. You’ve proven yourself capable of looking at the weather app in the morning and making an informed decision as to the appropriate attire.

You can get up, dress yourself and go to work without someone forcing you to eat a bowl of porridge and making “helpful” footwear suggestions before you walk out the door.

For the past six years, no one has noticed if you’ve come home 45 minutes later than anticipated, and then made several rounds of cheese on toast in lieu of dinner.

But parents forget about all this. For them, the years you survived away from them didn’t happen. You’re still the slightly hopeless teenager you were when you left to go to university, whom they are theoretically delighted to have back under their roof, but don’t quite know how to handle.

And the trouble is, you suddenly find yourself behaving like a teenager, too.

Since moving back in with my mum and dad – after my landlord decided with just a few weeks’ notice to boot me out – I have found myself fighting not to regress into behaving like a petulant child. And I think I have, mainly, been succeeding.

I’m by no means the only one of my friends doing this. Hordes of us are gravitating back to our old bedrooms, whether to bridge the gap in between masters degrees and jobs, to save a bit of cash to be able to move out with friends, or even (for the very lucky ones) to start saving for a deposit.

The truth is, it’s a nobrainer. If you’re lucky enough to have parents who live in the city in which you have chosen to work, who are kind enough to let you live rent-free with them for a bit, and who you don’t actually want to throttle (even when they ask if you need the loo before you leave the house), then why not?

It might even be (whisper it) quite fun. And think of all the money you can save (or spend on Asos).