title: Do parent threads wait for child threads to exit before they also exit in servlet containers?
body: <p><strong>Question:</strong>
  If you spawn new threads inside a servlet/controller and the main thread handling that controller has completed, will the controller thread block until all of its child threads have returned before it also returns?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Background</strong>:
  I have some code running in separate threads spawned from inside a controller but the thread handling the controller doesn't seem to return independently; theres a long delay of the exact length of the child thread's process time. It appears to be waiting for the child threads to finish before it exits. Is this normal? </p>
  
  <p><strong>Question Simplified:</strong> I know the child thread(s) will run without blocking the parent when the parent is running but what happens when the parent finishes its tasks?</p>