[jamesroseman]

I really don't think this is it.

I think more than anything it's the amount children share in common. Adults are lame. The world is big. There's a lot to do and a lot of time to do it in. If you're a kid and you meet another kid odds are you live in the same town or at least region, go through the same school system, are roughly socioeconomically similar, and (thus) have a lot of things you can do together.

At work I really don't know much about my co-workers. I would go grab a beer and watch the game with someone if I knew they were interested, and from there we could hang out more -- but I don't. We spend all day near each other, at the EOD I just want to go home.

So my theory is that as adults most of us have fulltime jobs where we're always near people we don't spend much time with, and have no time to enter social circles afterwards.

$0.02

[VLM]

I would agree with and extend your remarks with the positive example of adult ex-military people always have something to talk about in common, why with the newborn I haven't had this little sleep since Basic, hey you ever been stationed at Ft Leonardwood, well I was at Redstone in the 90s and ... etc etc. Another positive example is sports team fans, how about that pass in the 3rd quarter of the Packer game, eh? I don't even do sportsball but I got the terminology correct and I'm sure there was some questionable pass in the 3rd quarter of the most recent Packers game, how could there not be?

I can also extend with some classic negative examples, once you graduate school and live in the real world, I have nothing in common with my neighbors. What can I say to a 65 year old CFO, or a 50 year old warehouse owner/manager? The HVAC contractor across the street? "Wow those air conditioners sure blow a lot of air don't they?" Our kids might have a lot in common at the school as you state, but as parents I have very little in common with my neighbors.