Purposeful extended families

The time has come for Junior to move back home. (google "moving home" and see lots of sites on it) The time has come, not in that child's life, but in our American culture. The culture has moved to the point that rugged individualism and the demanding cry for personal space must be usurped by more important demands: community values in life and economic pressures of single family living.

Perhaps the extended family is not the genetic family, but includes other person(s) with similar values and sub-culture. Perhaps it will incorporate multiple families who can share space, incomes, and household responsibilities. There can't be a “host” family and a “guest” family. That would be tiresome. Rather, functional responsibilities and realistic expectations with a system of formal communication (for grievances) needs to be set up.

What was it like to have a roommate in college? Horrible? There were bad times, but it was one way to pay the rent. You also had a significant impact on one another. Could we move that impact for good even as families get older? Communities are segmented and need to be reestablished: children would have closer playmates again; adults could have live-in mentors; conflicts could be mediated from outside the nuclear unit.

There are problems with this proposal and it will work for very few in the long run. It is a proposal for consideration, nonetheless.