Is join family better than single one?

sachishah

In India few years ago families are joint families. But now, they are separated. That is the reason I asked this question Is join family better than single one?

neverdespairgirl

I'm not sure what you mean. What is a single family? What is a joint one?

By single family, do you mean nuclear family? Parents + minor children?

By joint, do you mean extended family living together - couple, their adult children, their grandchildren, cousins, etc?

Hermia

If you mean extended v nuclear family surely it depends on the family. I can see pros and cons to both. If you have a loving supportive family it must be lovely to have all those people around you, but if not... One of the reasons my dad came to the UK from India was to get away from his suffocating extended family!

lowlitmemory

In an ideal world I'd have my extended family living closer to me, but NOT in the same house. A ten minute walk away seems ideal to me, it's close enough to pop round for a cuppa and a chat but not so close that they can see you get home every day (e.g. if they lived on the same road).

We used to live ten minutes away from my in-laws and it worked well, we were all around to help each other out and if my parents could have been a bit closer too I'd have been thrilled (although they were only 45mins by public transport). Sadly due to house prices we didn't have a hope of buying closer to our parents so we're just over an hour away by public transport or 30/40 mins by car (but we don't drive). Now I've had a baby I'm really feeling this, especially as MIL is a housewife and my mum works part-time with a view to retiring soon, so if we all lived closer they could see a lot more of the baby and maybe I wouldn't feel quite so isolated.

If my parents or in-laws needed to live with us, they could, but it wouldn't be an active choice on either of our parts! Likewise we would only go to live with them in dire straits... we stayed a few months at the ILs after we got married and I was glad to leave. Don't get me wrong, they were lovely etc but it is nice to have your own space.

LEJC

Although what works in India may not work so harmoniously in the UK... so there are cultural and social differences to consider too.

when I first read the post I thought you were asking about single parent families /2 parent families...now reading the other replies I'm not so sure....

So on that note I'm not sure which way the op wants to take the thread...