The loss of GrandParents.

My daughter studies in Kindergarten. Recently they celebrated Grandparents' day there, when the students were asked to bring their grandparents to the classes. She came back thoroughly confused. "How can one have grandparents at their own home, Mom?" she asked me.
That is the state of our society today. Not just young kids, but many grown ups too, can't imagine a family apart from the nuclear one. This unprecedented spread of nuclear families has given rise to many issues- the prime being the disintegration of social structure. What are the reasons behind this, and is this phenomenon truly a disheartening one?
Changing social scenario has given rise to the current situation. More and more people are moving abroad, for studies, work, and life in general, leaving behind aging parents. Even People who live in the same city as their parents choose to live separately, mostly due to western influences. Joint family, as was known, is becoming more and more extinct.
Is it desirable or not? Can this be seen as completely black or white; or is it a grey area in the evolution of men? There are two very distinct schools of thought regarding this:

1. Many people believe that the disintegrating social order is nothing less than a shame to the humanity. Parents sacrifice all their lives and ambitions to bring up their children. They nurture and nourish a baby into a fully grown person. They sit through the kid’s sickness, examinations, and heart aches. And when these very parents grow old, and need a hand, all they receive is a cheque!! Children, who once grew around the epicenter of their parents, now regard them as an expense and nuisance. This surely indicates the lessening humanity of human kind. Many people would argue that this is effectively going back to being a savage animal!
2. However, someone else might use the same simile to insist that this is indeed what nature intended in the first place. Plants spread through pollination, and if seeds always stay near the parent plant, they would never gain their full growth and valor. Different people are different, and need different circumstances to perform their best. As we grow up, it is only natural for children to spread their wings, and look for an independent nest. Undue importance, some think, is attached to the social structure in the oriental world.
As you can see, the two schools have such contrasting ideas, that it is difficult, nay impossible, to arrive at a specific 'correct' answer. Indeed, there is no single correct answer. It is our duty, and privilege, to be able to care for people who brought us up. Nothing can survive a storm like a well-knit, close family. No one can provide the guidance and protection that experience does. But in the same breath, I must say that it is better to live alone than to live with an abusive family. It is better to be happy separately than to be miserable together. Old age homes still carry a huge stigma here in stigma, but are actually a great idea for senior citizens to bond with fellow citizens in surroundings that are conducive to their specific needs.
Meanwhile, I can only hope that my younger daughter understands the concept of grandparents better when we visit them these holidays.

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