Saturday, February 19, 2011

Child care and aged care

Child care in Australia is very expensive. So is aged care. Wouldn't it make sense to have the aged take care of the young? We do that at home in a traditional 3-generation household. Supposed there is such a thing called "combined care" facility, which simultaneously cares for the aged and the young. The principle behind it is that the cost to the aged is partially defrayed by using the aged to look after the young. Of course, the old people themselves are also cared for in the same facility. The lower operating cost of such a facility should be passed on to the parents of young children, to enable both parents to go to work.

Such an arrangement will provide useful preoccupation for the elderly. Many elderly people nowadays tend to be sidestepped and do not get to spend much time with their families. I am sure many of them will enjoy the company of little kids running around. Small children will also learn a lot from the elderly people. I am not a psychologist, but I am sure children tend to pick up good values when they spend a lot of time with old people.

No comments: