With advance of technology, iPhone, iPad, computers and 24 hour TV, family life has changed beyond recognition. There is no more gathering at dinner table or routinely going to parks and picnics as family outings. There is wide technological gape between different generations, as normal simple pleasures like playing cards, monopoly, snake and ladder for children and similar games which used to be social occasions, especially at festive times like Christmas holidays, is considered unfashionable and too simplistic, especially for our smart and clever children who could use iPhone with ease at the age of five or six.
There is also steep decline in marriages but break-ups, divorces are common, easily obtainable. There is sharp decline in “Give and Take, Forgive and Forget” attitude, especially among younger generation, as both partners in a marriage are highly qualified and financially independent.
According to recent survey, published in leading newspapers, one in eight middle aged people have never got married; twice the level two decades ago and most live on their own, without a partner. This may sound quite normal when one is young, healthy and mobile. But it is completely different proposition in old age when one may be infirm, in declining health, confined to one’s home and financially not in comfortable zone compared to married couple who have double pension, double income.
No wonder there is six month’s waiting for a place in “Nursing Homes” even though it costs arm and a leg, with weekly charges varying from seven to fifteen hundred, a king’s ransom, the burden mainly falling on Councils and NHS. No wonder our social care services are in crises with ever decreasing financial support from the Central Government, forcing Councils to bear the financial burden that may bankrupt them unless the budget is cut to the bone.
Only Jewish community is geared to take care of their older generation, with their own “Sheltered and Nursing Homes”. How wonderful it could be if our religious establishments like Hare Krishna and Swaminarayan sect build their own such facilities, attached to their popular temples which may not only give comfort to our elderly in their twilight years but also generate sizable income from personal, Council and Government contributions, as many would leave a sizeable donation in their Wills.
Kumudini Valambia
By email
