Recently, there has been some discussion on jmg’s main blog about how inevitable it is that people will live with their children in old age. I find this idea naive and self-limiting. Given the dangers of childbirth, war, work accident, and novel distributions of pollution and disease, there is the distinct possibility for a level playing field as to which members of a single household survive. Whether a younger or older generation gets lucky could be 50-50 odds. Just as there can be orphaned children, so there can be orphaned elders. Just as there have been foster parents so there have been foster care options for elders.
But such enterprises do need to be routinely monoitored and inspected. If anyone is naive as I used to be about the quality of pre-fossil fuel foster care, allow me to refer them to the story by Sarah Orne Jewett about an old lady who is fostered out with a stingy and cruel couple who basically starve and freeze her almost to an early death. Or the similar situation in Jane Eyre where the boarding school is run by a cheapskate who routinely serves burnt oatmeal, rancid milk, etc. and provides inadequate care for a tubercular young girl. Or the other Sarah Orne Jewtt story about a household of domestic abuse called “A Jury of Her Peers.” Likewise, if anyone thinks child foster care is going to be soley for the benefit of the child, please read the Anne of Green Gables series where Anne talks matter of factly about the labor of household menial work, child-minding and sick nursing she was obliged to do in her past fostering placements.
Economic reality makes it more likely that people of lesser competence or greater laziness will gladly take money from village, lodge, or parish funds to “care” for an orphaned child or granny in the cheapest ways possible.
Greed will not vanish just because times get hard; in fact, it shows up at its cruelest among the poor and poorest members of a society.
Thus, someone who can provide honest, decent and reliable care for orphaned children and elders could do better than merely getting by. Payment or outright charity in the form of CSA boxes of veggies, bushels of windfall apples, fruit too bruised for market, soup bones and offal meat, etc., could go a long way in feeding dependent members of a society.
In a more urban area, running an inn or hotel for semi-permanent residents could make pretty good money. What can be profitably provided for travellers should also be cost-effective for dependent care.
People who proved public showers or hot baths or steam baths, or caravanserai that give minimal shelter to travellers and their mounts could also make decent money in a crossroads of land and river traffic.
In short, running a large household is a skill that can be learned and cultivated here and now to be ready for any otherwhen.
Re: Shopping list...?
But such enterprises do need to be routinely monoitored and inspected. If anyone is naive as I used to be about the quality of pre-fossil fuel foster care, allow me to refer them to the story by Sarah Orne Jewett about an old lady who is fostered out with a stingy and cruel couple who basically starve and freeze her almost to an early death. Or the similar situation in Jane Eyre where the boarding school is run by a cheapskate who routinely serves burnt oatmeal, rancid milk, etc. and provides inadequate care for a tubercular young girl. Or the other Sarah Orne Jewtt story about a household of domestic abuse called “A Jury of Her Peers.” Likewise, if anyone thinks child foster care is going to be soley for the benefit of the child, please read the Anne of Green Gables series where Anne talks matter of factly about the labor of household menial work, child-minding and sick nursing she was obliged to do in her past fostering placements.
Economic reality makes it more likely that people of lesser competence or greater laziness will gladly take money from village, lodge, or parish funds to “care” for an orphaned child or granny in the cheapest ways possible.
Greed will not vanish just because times get hard; in fact, it shows up at its cruelest among the poor and poorest members of a society.
Thus, someone who can provide honest, decent and reliable care for orphaned children and elders could do better than merely getting by. Payment or outright charity in the form of CSA boxes of veggies, bushels of windfall apples, fruit too bruised for market, soup bones and offal meat, etc., could go a long way in feeding dependent members of a society.
In a more urban area, running an inn or hotel for semi-permanent residents could make pretty good money. What can be profitably provided for travellers should also be cost-effective for dependent care.
People who proved public showers or hot baths or steam baths, or caravanserai that give minimal shelter to travellers and their mounts could also make decent money in a crossroads of land and river traffic.
In short, running a large household is a skill that can be learned and cultivated here and now to be ready for any otherwhen.