"Comrade, there was living space for 13 families in this one house!"
"Comrade, there was living space for 13 families in this one house!"
There’s a family on our street where half their kids (late 20’s and early 30’s) have moved back home and have been there for years. The “kids” mooch off the parents who also were heavily subsidized by their parents. It’s a family tradition!
Periodically the “kids” bring their girlfriends and boyfriends to spend a few days in mom and dad’s home. With all that coziness it’s just a matter of time before one of the “guests” has a liason with another family member. That will be interesting. LOL.
I think it’s a great idea. In fact, I wonder if part of this is less financial and more emotional. People used to live near or with relatives and see them often.
For every middle-aged couple who rejoices at the thought of an empty nest, there is another who misses the kids. And practically every kid I’ve ever known would like more time with Grandma and Grandpa.
During the Depression, my mother’s family ended up living together even though they worked in the public sector (cops and firemen) and, therefore, missed the worst of that time. I truly think they were very close and kind to each other. We used to call it “extended families.”
Nothing at all unusual about this around the rural area where I live, especially as I was growing up. Used to see lots of multigenerational homes and properties. Cases of sons and grandchildren building homes on the same property as the grandparents, or in some cases all of them just living together.
Over the past 20 years, I’ve noticed less of it. Most of my peers, and their parents had moved away from ‘the nest’. but it seems to be making a comeback in a hurry.
You bet this will continue to happen, as more people lose their homes, the economy continues to remain in the toilet and enter another recession, and rental unit rates climb, people will have no choice but to live with close relatives. Get used to the idea, it’s already happening.
So what is old is new again?
Not surprising given the economy. And this is just the beginning.
If I were going to do this with my family, I’d prefer a “family compound” with several houses close together on a common piece of land. Gives more privacy.
This has been common for years with Armenian families in the Los Angeles area.
This is a wonderful return back to true family life. When your parents and grandparents stay with you, you take care of them and they take care of the kids.
I’m single, 60 years old. As an empty nester, my house was many times bigger than I needed. A couple years ago my daughter, hubby & 2 small grandkids moved in with me. Part of my deal to get my son in law thru college. We all get along great, but we’re lucky.
We have a “family” of Mexicans living in our neighborhood. the enclosed the garage and made another room, or two, or three....not sure. Now when they open the garage door you can see studs and sheetrock. The HOA is supposedly trying to do something about it. It’s definitely against the rules.
My concern are not multi-generational home but unrelated multi-family homes.
Had the remodel planned and laid out on paper and the budget worked out in anticipation of Romney/Ryan and was looking for an architect and contractor to help me make it happen.
I would have employed a few people to get it done, bought a lot of material from local suppliers and think it would have improved the neighborhood. Oh well...so much for that idea...not spending any more money and certainly won't be borrowing any!
I grew up in a multi-generational home (I’m 59.) My widowed grandmother came to live with us when I was 2, and she lived with us until she passed away I was 12.) Then my great aunt lived with us (during my HS years and died when I was in college) because she was alone and didn’t want to live on her own.
We (my husband and I) followed suit and my MIL lived with us once my FIL passed...it just seemed like the “normal” thing to do (our kid took it in stride ) She has passed away, as has my mom, but we’ve let my dad know that he has a place here with us, if he ever wants to move in.
I know plenty of families who have 3 generations, living under one roof (I know one who has 4.) But these folks aren’t destitute, or forced into this decision. It is considered normal and makes things more convenient and practical...but not always easier :)
What a wonderful lesson for children to know that when someone is elderly, and perhaps in ill health, we don’t put them away in a nursing home, or retirement center, but live together as a family. (In our case, 3 siblings, my father, our son and DIL, and some nieces/nephews and their families) all live within 2 miles of each other...it’s a great support system and makes life so much easier, even though we’re not all living under the same roof.
Until returning WWII vets and their families bought into the first wave of single family homes, the multi-generational home was just the way things were. Actually it can be a blessing, if the grandparents are willing to sit with the kids, if not every day for Mom and Dad to work outside the home, at least from time to time, to allow some ‘away time’.
This is basically the end game, given our financial situation. It’s the way it was in this country for hundreds of years, and it’s the way most of the world has been for thousands of years.
It was only a couple of generations in time that we were wealthy enough to separate our generations - and we managed to blow that, BIG TIME.
Just like Southfork!
RIP J.R.
