Would you rather be living with your family?
Call 08459 811111, email julia@bbc.co.uk or text 81333 (start your message with KENT).
Call 08459 811111 (local rate), email julia@bbc.co.uk or text 81333 (start your message with KENT).
Are you an elderly person living on your own, would you rather be living with your family?
A summit on loneliness this week found that more than a million elderly people in the UK feel isolated most of the time, and estimates suggest that 12% of older people feel trapped in their own home, and half of all older people (about five million) say the television is their main company.
We also discover today that multi-generational households are becoming the norm in the UK, with seven or eight family members sharing the same home. Research suggests the high cost of living is pushing families back in time and the number of households with several generations all under one roof could exceed Victorian era levels by 2030.
So, what is wrong with sharing your home with an elderly relative?
Maybe you have been forced to live under the same roof with an elderly relative and it has really proved too much for you and for them? Is it really that straightforward? As you get older your care needs may get greater and does that put an unbearable pressure on your children, who are trying to look after their own kids?
If you are the pensioner in question, maybe you do not want to live with your children, maybe you are happy being independent, you value your privacy, your solitude and you cannnot think of anything worse than moving in with your children.
We meet sisters Helen and Jenny who have finally been reunited after a life time apart.
Despite sharing the same mum, their upbringings could not have been more different. Champion golfer Jenny from Tenterden had a happy childhood and a private education, while sister Helen was raised by their biological mother and had troubled times with a violent father.
We hear your views and stories.
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- Fri 16 Mar 2012 09:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Kent