The lure of children and grandchildren

I just read an article that talks about how Gen-Xers (born roughly 1961-1981) work at balancing their priorities, emotions and aspirations. An increasingly popular choice of Gen-X parents has been to reverse the trend of two-income households by having one parent (either one) stay home to raise children. My experience with both Gen-X clients and our Gen-X children and their friends has proven that to be true...I think of it as the lure of children.

My experience with grandparents proves the lure of grandchildren is also very strong. As my generation of Baby Boomers assess what we want to do and where we want to live in our 'third age' I find over and over again that children and grandchildren play an important role.

I recently worked with a couple who have a lake cabin 'up north' and decided to sell their Twin Cities home, buy a place in Florida and split their time between the two. Sounds like a great plan...and they tried it for a number of years. Only problem was, they missed their grandchildren. Guess what...they moved back!

Right now I'm working with a couple from Long Island moving the other way. They're planning to buy a condo in the Twin Cities while keeping their home in NY so they can come and visit their children and grandchildren for extended stays. They're considering a more permanent move, but this is a good way for them to test it out first and work at making some community connections outside their family before making a final decision.

Personally, I experience the lure regularly. Our children and grandchildren live nearby and as part of my 'Wednesdays Unplugged' we have family dinner at our house that night so we connect every week. Fortunately, we don't have to move...we're lucky that we're already close, but I think it's pretty easy to see why the lure is so strong!