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Diana Lind's avatar

Great piece. I can only speak to my own experience -- the opening line to my book, Brave New Home, was about how I had no idea how isolating young parenting would be.Prior to being a parent, I was never really at home, so I didn't really think about needing community in my living arrangement then. Having kids really changes how much time you spend at home. Unfortunately I think a lot of people come to realize how much they want to raise kids in community after they've bought the house and birthed the kid.

The example in India is interesting -- kids there grow up always knowing how important community is for childrearing. That makes it a lot easier and more intuitive to plan to live with or near family as you approach starting a family.

Currently, most of my friends are the parents of my kids' friends, and we all live near each other because our kids attend a walkable, neighborhood school. We all share a playground in our neighborhood where our kids also mix with kids who are not part of their friend group. We also support a community of stores and public transit etc. My next book is about spending too much time at home -- I love the idea of building a community around a home, but think it's as important or even more so to build a community around public spaces and public life.

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Anita's avatar

I am Indian and want to warn that you should be careful of idealizing the multigenerational household. I, too, think it sounds beautiful and idea. But many of my extended relatives live in multigenerational households in India and they are all miserable. So many politics of gender, in laws and power. Furthermore, if you grow up with parents with mental illness, no amount of multigenerational household living will resolve the fact that your parent(s) have a mental illness and it directly impacts the kids.

Finally, as an adult, my husband and I moved into my dad’s house to help him as he grows into very old age (he is in his late 80s). That lasted about 9 months. He hated us being in his house and was not ready to share or make space for us.

I would not generalize what one Indian friend has told you. That may be their experience but in practice, I have seen that multi generational households live on in India mainly due to tradition but that most everyone I know in that situation is miserable.

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