what does the future hold, householdwise...?

[Beaker]

Does anyone else think that we'll see a marked rise in, and return to multi-generational households...as well as a resurgence of communes and co-ops as baby boomers/gen-xers become "empty-nesters"?
If we remain in the U.S., my wife and I are strongly considering the possibility of starting/joining some type of artist co-op/community in the not-to-distant future.

[PoplarForest]

1. Been there already

More multi-generational. My grandmother lived with us for 10+ years until she died. My in-laws both have health concerns and we are preparing for them to move in with us. Guess we are luckier this time because two of the kids will be out on their own.

[SheilaT]

2. I think it's much too early too tell.

It's true that the nuclear family/single generation household is a relatively recent, Western Civilization thing, but I don't know if we can predict any kind of wholesale return to multi-generational households. The Great Depression hardly affected the move to nuclear family/single generation household.

Has there been any change in the tendency of retired people to move to a warmer climate/retirement community in recent years? That might be a good indication of things to come.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Don't think so. The extended family is based on someone being home

to care for small children, elderly, infirm, etc - the more extended the family, the more someones providing that care, maintaining the home, cooking meals, etc. That's not economically possible for an increasing % of Americans.

What we will see is an increase in homeless/warehoused elderly and unattended/warehoused children. The closest to extended families you are likely to see are adults living at home with their parents well into adulthood simply because they do not earn enough to afford housing.

It's easy to be fooled by all the right-wing talk about family, but the fact is that American social structure is anything but family-friendly, and the "break-down of the family" that they love to decry has more to do with economic policies that they enthusiastically support than with what Britney Wears or LudaKris sings or how many cartoon monsters little Johnny blows up on his PlayStation :)

[Beaker]

4. an "extended family" isn't necessarily an economic hardship-

for example if able grandparents move into a house, it can free up both spouses to work without having to worry about daycare costs for children, or having a 'latch-key' kid.

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. Yes, but as the grandparents become less "able," in an extended family

someone else will be in the home to gradually take on the tasks they can no longer do.

In an American household, that's not likely. Even when children reach the legal age to drop out of school, few parents will want to have them do that in order to stay home and care for the grandparents.

So the family is back to the same place - the financial hardship of providing care to the now-aged parents, plus an additional emotional factor, since they have lived in the home for so long.

No one wants to be in the position of saying "OK Mom, thanks for raising the kids, but now it's time for you to go live in a state nursing home, since you can't get around so good any more."

That's not how an extended family works!

[FlaGranny]

6. My mother lived with us the last 15 years of her life.

It was financially the best option for all of us. We gave her a home, she did little things around the house while she was able, and contributed part of her income to household expenses. She was able to live a better life and so were we, because of it. It wasn't always "comfortable" though. Near the end, it was damned tough, because when she needed full care, I was the only one to give it. That is physically and mentally exhausting. Many families do not have a close enough relationship to make extended households "work."