One of the strengths of the multigenerational family unit is that it cares for its members based on love and respect not on age or financial need. That’s how families work. We would like to think that is how our entire community works and how our city, state or nation does as well. But..Read the rest…

Tomorrow – September 12th – is Grandparents Day.
Whether they are in the next room, around the corner or across the country, be sure to wish your grandparents all the best.
The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of..Read the rest…

The Harris survey group does an annual “Happiness Poll” which seeks to measure how happy be are as individuals. Over the years some interesting trends have developed, most notably for the generations is that the older we get the happier we seem to be.
In the most recent survey the “younger” generation that being 18-24 yr...Read the rest…

We know there is an upward trend in the number of multigenerational households world wide or at least in the western industrialized nations. We have census numbers that back that up. But some real questions arise as to the historical roots of that “trend.”
Just how many multigenerational households were there 60, 80 or 100 years..Read the rest…

Here at Multigenerational Life we talk a lot about cooperation between generations and tools to make that cooperation part of every day life. We like to pass on lessons learned by others who have entered or reentered the the multigenerational living lifestyle. But we also recognize that a lot of the examples, stories and research..Read the rest…

Read this opening to a recent newspaper article:
With the abysmal state of the American economy, more families are living together driven by job loss, which has seen children flocking back home.
Now describe what you think will be the overall tone of the article and what its conclusions might be. Read the opening one more time.
Now..Read the rest…

If you live in a multigenerational household in any of the western industrial countries at some point the family conversation is going to turn to debt. More specifically national debt and the “fact” that a huge debt burden is being accumulated by “this generation” and they will pass on that debt burden to future generations...Read the rest…

We like to take care when we run across really big or really interesting numbers. Not only do we like to double check the statistics, we also have to wonder if the interpretation of certain “hard and fast” numbers are really getting at the truth that plays out in the world of multigenerational living. Today..Read the rest…

Just what exactly defines a generation?
We know the common parameters of the Baby Boomer generation is being born between 1946 and 1964. But after that all the “generations: get a bit fuzzy. Generation X, Gen Y, the Millennials, Gen Next, the Wired Generation. And let’s not forget the infamous Me! Generation. In fact, let’s start..Read the rest…

Today and tomorrow we take a look at some of the specifics of what defines (or doesn’t define) a generation. These ideas come from the world of business communications but sociologists tell us they seem to hold true in most areas of intergenerational communication from families to corporations and even nations.
We roughly have five current..Read the rest…