The Demise of the Multigenerational Household
4th November 2026
As readers know by now, my favorite television show was made in the 1970s. It is called “The Waltons.” It’s about the experiences of one Virginia household in the Great Depression and how they found the good life not through money and prosperity but family, love, and a stable home on the land. It’s such an inspiration. Every episode offers an interesting life lesson of some sort and reinforces the values that made this country great.
You might not notice at first, but one unusual aspect is that this show features a multigenerational household. The father’s father and his wife live in the house with their seven grandchildren. The grandfather helps daily in the family business of lumber harvested from their own land. And the grandmother helps with all household chores of cooking, cleaning, laundry, plus dishes out wisdom at every turn. The grandparents provide an essential element of stability.
This model of living was not unusual at the time. It was a pattern. My grandparents on both sides of my family lived this way as children with several generations in a single household or, at least, very nearby. This shaped who they were. It was part of becoming civilized to learn what it is like to age, to have sickness and even death occur alongside new life, and to observe the cycles taking place right before one’s very eyes.
In the absence of these extended households, we have lost so much. The children no longer hear grand tales of the old days on a regular basis from the elderly. They are denied access to vivid accounts of what life was like in earlier times. The past doesn’t seem real; it seems like a book in which the kids are not interested.