Generational Living – Part 3
One of the changes coming is in fact not new, but is a return to ways of the past. Our household will become multi-generational as children stay home longer and ageing in place becomes the norm as services to the elderly improve. These changes are being driven hard now by pure economics.
Here are 3 examples and benefits of Generational Housing –
Student Accommodation – Education is becoming more expensive. Casual work that University students often engage in has been greatly affected by COVID-19. This all adds to the cost of living and increases the stress of the student years. Adding a secondary dwelling to the family home offers an alternative for parents to provide security with independence for their children and an opportunity to help them financially through these years. It allows young adult children to study and stay at home, but still maintain independence.
Aged Living – The term “Ageing in Place” has been part of the greater health care system for many years but the alternatives for this are limited. Children of elderly parents either put their parents in a home or have them come and live in their house. One is not desirable to the parents, and the other is not desirable to the children. Adding a secondary dwelling to the family home gives both the ageing parents and their children the independence they still crave, yet also provides the security and comfort that loved ones are close and are well taken care of.
Child Care – In the majority of families both parents need to work. As such, Child Care becomes an expensive necessity during those early family years. The cost of childcare in today’s society either has couples delaying having children, or having a child but mortgage pressures mean they have to go back to work so the child goes into childcare. In childcare, the bond of ‘family’ is lost in those formative years and people end up working just to pay childcare fees. An extension of the aged living concept is that grandparents can provide at home childcare for families. Grandparents provide the best emotional childcare available and the most cost effective. This is also great for the grandparents’ emotional state. Parents have far less worry about their child when at home cared for by grandparents and it saves them significant money on childcare. The modern ‘nuclear’ family has lost the benefits of the wisdom of age. Grandparents can interact with their grandkids which keeps them feeling younger. Grandkids can interact with their grandparents and get a richer perspective on life as they grow up.
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