I grew up in a sort of compound house with my uncle, my aunt, my cousin, my grandpa and grandma. Big families are pretty normal in Greece, it too is eroding of course. It's alright, it's not a terrible model. Would I want to continue it? Probably not because while I love my parents and all I've kinda had enough of them in regards to some stuff. Unless I move close to the parents of whomever I might marry eventually if I ever do.
I say close to because it doesn't have to literally be the same house. Our house was compound so all 3 homes were part of the same building but had different doors. But, you know, grandma was cooking for everyone when the rest had work to do and she looked after me and my cousin when our parents had work. In return we looked after her. It's also cost effective because you don't need nannies, childcare etc since someone is almost always there. So that's the good aspect. The bad aspect is when frictions develop, when they do. But that's why it is preferable to not be literally in the same house, just next door.
I said before it is eroding mostly because it is no longer feasible for many families to live like that because one ownership rates are dropping (although they're still somewhat high compared to the US) and people are forced to rent. Also some people just don't want to live like that and prefer to be more independent of their parents.
I grew up in a sort of compound house with my uncle, my aunt, my cousin, my grandpa and grandma. Big families are pretty normal in Greece, it too is eroding of course. It's alright, it's not a terrible model. Would I want to continue it? Probably not because while I love my parents and all I've kinda had enough of them in regards to some stuff. Unless I move close to the parents of whomever I might marry eventually if I ever do.
I say close to because it doesn't have to literally be the same house. Our house was compound so all 3 homes were part of the same building but had different doors. But, you know, grandma was cooking for everyone when the rest had work to do and she looked after me and my cousin when our parents had work. In return we looked after her. It's also cost effective because you don't need nannies, childcare etc since someone is almost always there. So that's the good aspect. The bad aspect is when frictions develop, when they do. But that's why it is preferable to not be literally in the same house, just next door.
I said before it is eroding mostly because it is no longer feasible for many families to live like that because one ownership rates are dropping (although they're still somewhat high compared to the US) and people are forced to rent. Also some people just don't want to live like that and prefer to be more independent of their parents.