Multigenerational households confirm: The more the merrier
When Ashley Guevara and her husband Alfredo Guevara feel overwhelmed by managing their full-time jobs while raising 2-year-old twins during a pandemic, they breathe huge sighs of relief that they moved in with extended family earlier this year.
The couple and their children live with Mr. Guevara’s mother in the same house where he grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts. Next door in a connected house live Mr. Guevara’s aunt and cousin. Life flows fluidly between the two spaces, with family members sharing meals, watching TV together, and caring for the twins.
“We moved in two weeks pre-quarantine,” in early March, says Ms. Guevara. “I don’t know what we would have done if we were still in a tiny apartment with growing toddlers, working from home.”
Although the benefits of living with family are especially clear during a pandemic – with in-home child care, companionship, and a lowered cost of living – the Guevaras decided to move into their multigenerational house before they’d heard of the coronavirus. And like a growing number of others living in a similar situation, they plan to stick with it after the pandemic
A peak in an ongoing trendBenefits for young adultsFamily closeness and financial supportPlanning for multigenerational familiesStrategies for thriving across generations
