Anonymous wrote:If you’re choosing to live away from your parents and family because of job opportunities, etc but wish it didn’t have to be that way, that’s normal. If you’re choosing to live away from them because you don’t want to be close to family, that means you have a dysfunctional family. There’s no middle ground.

I disagree. I think people find a "functional" that works. Our family has strong relationships though everyone lives far apart. We have an ongoing group text every day, call and talk regularly, visit a few times a year. We get along great. I think it's perfect--but these relationships could become more strained if we lived closer together and were more involved in each others' day-to-day business. I think we have a great balance of closeness and autonomy.

Did I already answer this? My mid-20s kids both telework and they both announced they want to live in the DMV to be near us. Frankly I told them, this is your chance to live virtually everywhere, you should take advantage of it and come back when we can help with grandkids.

I live very far from my parents, different country. I wasn't trying to get away from them! We get along great and visit each other for weeks every year. It is a very different relationship because time is more limited, but good quality. My in-laws are local and we are not nearly as close to them and neither are dcs.