Modern Family

Mention “family” in a crowded room and you might well evoke a different image in the mind of every person who hears you utter the word. The Many Forms of Family The traditional Leave it to Beaver notion of a nuclear family—that of a working dad, stay-at-home mom and their all-American kids—has long since given way to a more inclusive concept of “family” as currently portrayed in the popular TV sitcom Modern Family.  There, the central character is an affluent, divorced grandfather who has wed a young Hispanic woman and accepted the late-in-life challenge of starting a whole new family.  His new family is juxtaposed against his adult daughter’s more traditional suburban family; as well as his son’s household, in which the young gay attorney is co-parenting an adopted Asian child with his stay-at-home male spouse.  Beyond the comic possibilities, the show’s premise makes it abundantly clear that families now come in all shapes and sizes, even though the traditional concept of family togetherness is still the central focus of our lives. The Social Evolution of Singletons Even people who live the single life—either by choice or through such circumstances as divorce or widowhood—often develop their own sense of family by nurturing close ties to their friends; and yes, even to their pets.  With more than 50% of Americans now living single, the option to remain solo by choice has quietly become one of the most fascinating social evolutions of the past 50 years.  So says author and NYU professor Eric Klinenberg, whose book Going Solo explores the phenomenon in depth.  In the past, people were often regarded as fundamentally flawed if they remained single.  Today, solo living is viewed as a fulfilling lifestyle that grants unlimited freedom, greater control over one’s personal and professional life; and the creativity and self-realization that is often the fortunate by-product of solitude. Klinenberg suggests that people who live solo often develop richer lives because they spend more time socializing with friends—typically in urban settings outside the home—while the loneliest people are often those who live in unhappy relationships under the same roof.   Moreover, today’s technology can make friends and family seem far less remote; and thus suppress any feelings of loneliness or isolation. Defining New Ways to Live In many urban areas, new forms of micro-housing are being offering by developers as a fresh alternative for single buyers.   Their sales rationale:  Since you spend so much of your discretionary time outside the home, why go to the expense of buying so much square footage when a smaller, well-designed space will satisfy your housing needs for a whole lot less?   Furniture and appliance manufacturers quickly followed suit by designing more compact versions of their product lines. At the opposite end of the lifestyle spectrum, multigenerational households are also an idea whose time has come.  Now that people live longer—as well as for other practical reasons—generations of the same family often find themselves living under the same roof and liking it.  According to the Pew Research Center, the number of Americans residing in multi-generational households is now twice what it was in 1980, rising to 18% by 2012. Ideally, multigenerational families not only need ample quarters in which to accommodate their merged households, but also enough space and separation for each generation to retreat and enjoy their privacy. Needless-to-say, as more and more families break the conventional mold of what families were once thought to be, you will see the family home break out of its mold as well.  Deciphering how families live, work and play, then working with the area’s most accomplished developers to deliver housing that will accommodate these new or emerging lifestyles, has been the steady focus of the New Homes & Condominiums Division of Michael Saunders & Company since 1976.  Visit michaelsaunders.com  to explore the Gulf Coast’s many different lifestyles along with the new or existing properties that can place your modern family right where it wants to be.