A couple of comments after reading the article:
1. The geographical spread of the family as it contributes to aging loneliness: Most of our contemporaries of my wife and I (in our late 50's and early 60's) had children, and for so many of us, our children are scattered across the country due to employment, schooling or relationships. After they graduated from college on the East Coast, they remained after finding a job there; or they followed their romantic partner's job; or their project ended at Microsoft, and they had to move to Denver for another software gig. We have three of our four children living within 100 miles of us, and one in NYC, and we are better off than many of our friends, who may not have a child within 1000 miles of them. Your distant kids, especially when they have children, jobs, and mortgages of their own, are not going to come back to the nest to take care of you; and do they have the space, skills and inclination to move you to them so they can take care of you?
2. Some of our clinics specialize in Asian patients, and we have been struck that as the children of our patients get more Americanized, the traditional Asian respect and/or caretaking obligations for the parents and elders has gone away. I have had elderly Chinese patient come to me for help after their children threaten them with deportation to get the parents out of the house.
