Multigenerational Families

In today's volatile economy it's common to find several generations all living under one roof. Baby boomers are reportedly offering financial, emotional, and social support to their adult children on a level that goes far beyond what they received from their parents twenty or thirty years ago. On top of that baby boomers are finding that they are also giving financial and emotional support to their aging parents. This trend applies to families in urban and rural settings. The fact is most young farmers could not manage the start up costs of a new farming operation without the financial help of their parents and, or grandparents; farming is the original "family owned" business. Commonly when someone thinks of multigenerational families they think of families around the turn of the century or 1930's and 40's "Waltonesqe" type families. Truth is the number of multigenerational families has grown from thirty-two million in 1940 to over forty-nine million in 2009. Even the First Family is a multigenerational family with the President, First Lady, their two daughters and the First Grandmother all sharing living quarters in the White House.