not sure which is better.. our eastern way of being attached to the parents/child forever... or western way of leaving your parents alone after retirement, in retirement home.
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Peter C @
888jamie888 which one would you prefer after retirement age (say 60) and why.
Well I just drove my "way over 60" year old mom to the grocery store today (dad had back problems) so I guess that shows the "Western" way may not be as clear cut as you think. Or if it is nobody informed me.
But yes you are correct the usual scenario is the kids get married, run off, and buy a house 30 kilometers away from their parents.
But you have to keep in mind the age most parents are when their kids run off and the financial and health situation of the parents. If people have kids at say age 27-33 and the kids run off at age 18. That means the parents are 45-50. Not exactly elderly (BTW I'm 47). They are still working and driving etc. If those kids then have kids at 27 the grandparents are now 54-59..and yes still working and driving and taking care of themselves just fine.
Depending upon the health and financial situation of the parent it may not be as harsh as it first appears.
In the US most people are perfectly healthy and alert by the age of 65 and busy with their 9 to 5 jobs...in fact so much so they want to raise the retirement age to 70.
So it could be easy to say "hey have your parents live at home so they can take care of your kids while you work". The problem is many parents are working and don't want to quit their nice paying jobs to take care of the grandkids full-time. In fact they probably have higher paying jobs than the kids.
But all this gets messed up when people marry late and all the ages start shifting OR the parents don't have good jobs and have no money. Some people basically have to buy a two family house and live on one side while the elderly parents live in the other. In this case the parents usually take care of the grandkids and the kids can keep an eye on the parents.
Putting people in Nursing/Retirement homes is usually a last case scenario. It isn't because the children don't want to take care of the parents..it's simply because they can't. The parents are so elderly the kids would have to quit their jobs to take care of them 24hours a day. Leaving themselves in a financial disaster and not being able to support their own kids.
