ABSTRACT
One of the most popular misconceptions about family life in the past is that most children grew up in three-generation households alongside their parents and grandparents. Recent research has conclusively dispelled this myth. In the American colonies and preindustrial Europe, the presence of grandparents, parents, and grandchildren in the same household was not the normal family arrangement. Recent research presents a very different picture, however, Peter Uhlenberg, one of the United States' leading demographers and experts on population patterns, has argued that there are numerous problems with the popular perception that families have drifted apart in recent years. Many grandparents have jobs, friends, or other attachments that would keep them from making such a change. And not everyone would be able to afford such a move. But in cases where it could work, it is a wonderful solution to the problem of distance.
