Why is it so hard to get families to live in community houses?

In my social circles, becoming a parent is seen as a gigantic sacrifice. You lose sleep, time with friends, time for hobbies. You’ll probably have to move to a less desirable neighborhood to afford the extra space for your kid. If you’re the one carrying the child, you’re ‘destroying’ your body and jeopardizing your professional goals. But what if it didn’t have to be this way? An Indian friend recently told me how his parents couldn’t fathom why anyone wouldn’t want to have a child. In his parents’ India, having children is just fun. Most families live in multigenerational compounds, where parents raise their children alongside their nearest and dearest. When they’re babies, you always have someone to help babysit. Past a certain age, the kids run around with their cousins and entertain themselves. “It takes a village to raise a child” is perhaps the most common phrase I hear about having kids. It is, as Phil would say, an Obvious Truth. Children thrive when they are surrounded by ... Read full article.