without children Tag

22 Dec

Posted at 07:50h in Blog by
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Over the next 20/30 years, there will be unprecedented numbers of people without children reaching the oldest old age. Policy and planning focused on older people being supported by their children/grandchildren in later life will not meet this need and risks leaving individuals ageing without children dangerously unsupported. Research has shown that smaller families in general means that wider family networks cannot be depended on to “step up” in the absence of children and that wider unpaid care networks made up of wider kin and friends do not substitute for children as health declines. This means that there will be a greater reliance on formal care services at a time when they have never been under such intense pressure.

22 Dec

Posted at 07:45h in Blog by
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There has been an interesting thread on our Facebook group this week based on people’s experiences of not being in the grandparents club. People talked of being at retirement parties, family get-togethers, clubs they belonged too & even holidays with friends where they were treated as completely invisible because they couldn’t join in with the grandparent chat. The exclusion of nongrandparents is something we’ve blogged about before https://awoc.org/loneliness-its-not-enough-to-be-happy-to-chat-you-have-to-be-ready-to-listen-too/