Yep agreed.
I have a few extended family members whose kids are living w/them well into their late 20's, and a few into their 30's. That's Effin crazy IMO. My oldest one moved out at 18 years old (as I highly encouraged him to do so) for about a year before he enlisted into the military .
When my oldest son was growing up (especially in his younger teenage years) he would tell me periodically that I didn't act like some of is friends Dads. I asked what does that mean? He told me such things as his friends could come home whenever they wanted (no curfew). They would let their kids smoke cigarettes and / or weed, drink alcohol. Call them by first name (big no no in my family) etc etc etc. I told him numerous times growing up that I will always be your father first, I can, but not always, will be your friend.
Yep, you HAVE to do that, as a good parent. Instill discipline and also self sufficiency as well. Otherwise, it can end very sadly...
I remember this guy I knew back in Moscow, Uncle Viktor (friend of my actual Uncle Alik over there; Viktor was not my real uncle, but young people over there call ALL grown up "Uncle" or "Auntie" lol).
Viktor was a rich guy. Very wealthy, at the very least. Very well off. Not an oligarch, but, very upper middle class, at least.
He had a very nice dacha in the suburbs. With a sauna, poor, billiard room, ping-pong room, disco/dance room with the spinning ball and lights & music system, home movie theater system, lots of other cool stuff there. Even a laptop plugged into internet, in 2002, when such things were crazy rare for private citizens there lol
And also lots of nice expensive paintings and statues and antique weapons and whatnot.
I loved visiting that place haha
Dude started his own business in early 90s, after the USSR fell apart. He got into all kinds of things: deloivery/courier services for other companies. Trucking. All sorts of stuff, really, I don't know most of it. Made himself a nice fortune. And interesting friends too. I recall when we went to his dacha once. We came on the train and Viktor and his driver picked us up in the car, at the station.
On the way, we stopped over at the local store, Alik and Viktor wanted to get some booze and other stuff, food and such, there was a bunch of other guests coming.
We parked at the store, in our black Audi. And there were two other cars there, a black BMW and also big black SUV, Chevrolet, I think, if I remember correctly. Bunch of these tough looking guys were milling about those cars, shaved heads, leather jackets, all looked like either professional fighters or ex-military. And then this older guy emerged from the store, along with couple more of those shaved head ones. One of them rushed to open the door of the BMW for him; but then he sees Uncle Viktor
"Hey! Vitya, my brother! What's up, how's business?"
"Oh, all is good, Zakhar Knyazevich, business is well. Profits up in all the sectors, you know."
"Good, good to hear. Profits for you means profits for me, yes?"
They laugh, then hug, and then that other guy hops into the BMW, all his bodyguards also get into the cars and they all drive off.
Later, we bought what we wanted and driving to the dacha, and Alik asks him, "Hey, who was that, with the BMW?"
"Oh, just our local
avtoritet (mob boss). He protects my company..."
Was only in 2015, when he was arrested (after his guys were involved in a downtown Moscow shootout with a rival gang that left at least two men dead), that I realize I met, that day, none other than Zakhariy Kalashov, aka "Shakro the Young", the most notorious Russian Yezidi mobster
Check out his palace. Crazy...
But, anyway, back to the subject, so this guy, Viktor, he accumulated lots of wealth. Unfortunately, though, his health had issues. He had some weird disease and finally died from it, back in 2011. He had a son, Vladimir. A hard drinker and general failure in life.
After his dad passed away, Vladimir let some other people, outsiders, take over all his companies; and set about wasting his father's money on alcohol, girls, and just living large, basically. The party went on nonstop. Until the money ran out. Then, all his new "friends" and girlfriends, who were only with him for all that cash, quickly vanished. Along the way, he had gambled away even his dad's apartment in Moscow, where he'd been living (put down huge bets in some mafia-run underground casino, and, of course, lost it all, and then owed a lot of money and ended up in a situation where either he gave up the apartment to them, or gave up his life, literally, those guys don't joke around).
Basically, everything was gone, he ended up on the street. Long story short, he went down underground into the Metro and jumped under a train.
That was the end of that story... That's what happens, when you don't teach your son how to respect and properly care for your wealth after you're gone...
