We Gather Together

When you have more than one generation together for a short visit, during a long stay or because of a permanent arrangement, there are precautions you should take. Children and adult medications don’t mix. Be sure that you keep grandma’s, grandpa’s and your own medications out of reach of younger family members. Remember, they can climb. And it never hurts to caution the youngsters that they shouldn’t touch anyone else’s medicine.
Serving meals for multiple generations can also be difficult because of the special dietary needs of the elderly and the finicky taste buds of the young. Engage the children in selecting some menu items and help them prepare the easier dishes. They could even prepare some of the food for their grandparents. The children could learn to fix meals to freeze for their grandparents to eat at a later time. This will help the children feel special and also encourages the children to develop empathy for others.
Whenever I visited my invalid father-in-law who lived over 600 miles from us, I would spend one day preparing five or six of his favorite meals. Then I would freeze meal size portions so that he would have food for a couple of months after we returned home. Of course, other family members did the same thing so that he was never without food.
The noise level of grandchildren can be a little overwhelming for the elderly so youngsters should be taught to “Keep it down.” Find quieter activities for the children during the old folks' naptime. But when the grandparents are awake – and willing – the children could play dominoes, checkers, card games and board games with them. They can also read to their elders and/or their elders could read to them.
It takes a little work to have several generations living together successfully. But multi-generational living can be good for all concerned.