No longer generations apart

A growing number of Australian households have nearly four generations living under the same roof due to aged-care limitations, financial pressures, natural disasters, offspring staying at home longer and high childcare costs.

The finding has led futurist Mark McCrindle to believe Aussie families are becoming more and more like the Waltons, the depression-era family from the 1970s TV series.

Mr McCrindle says, by 2020, Australia will “flashback a century” and return to the multi-generational household similar to the Waltons family. The Waltons was an award-winning series set in the time of the Great Depression from 1929 when money was “tight”.

According to McCrindle, nearly one in four people aged 20 to 34 years of age continue to live in the parental home; and by 2020, there will be more 65 year olds than one year olds in Australia; putting a strain on aged care.

Social analyst, David Chalke, believes there are limited benefits to generations coming together when times are tough.

“There will be more multi-generational households in the future but it’s not all rosy. After a year of a big family sharing the same bathroom and struggling for privacy, cracks can form,” Mr Chalke says.

He claims he does not think Australia will “revert back to the days of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Charlie Bucket lives with his poverty-stricken parents and both sets of grandparents, and hopes “we have moved on from there”.

According to Phil Ormsby, community development officer at Queensland’s Leichhardt Community Centre in Ipswich, lately many families have been coming together under the one roof because of the devastation of the state’s floods.

“Every day I meet people who feel they have been let down by the system when it comes to their damaged homes, but they are enjoying the experience of family unity,” he said.

Mr Ormsby says The Waltons was a great example of how generational support is priceless when money is tight.

“It’s heart-warming for a big family to wish each other goodnight before lights go out,” he says.

Do you live in a household filled with generational support? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.