Making ourselves mad

In order to allow both parents to enter paid employment, governments subsidise child care services, in which we willingly enrol our children, some as young as 3 months old. (This is permitted!)

As people get older, they need more care, so instead of caring for them, we allow them to be sent to aged care homes, also subsidised by government.

Out of sight, out of mind?

I bet this will surprise you …. NOT!

• Over 50% of aged care residents have significant levels of depression.
• Around one in seven Australians take antidepressants

Institutional old age and child care services are convenience services designed to remove caring support roles from the family unit and free up more people to enter the labour force.

The distress and toll on families that this causes is apparent.

In primitive societies, the elderly and the young were kept in the family home, with the bulk of caring falling on female household members. Oooh! I need to tread carefully here…

In modern times, females have demanded and been granted greater access to and equality in the labour force. Which governements support and encourage for a number of reasons.

So the modern solution is to outsource our caring duties. Is there any wonder that so many are on anti-depressants?

What can be a greater source for despair than daily abandonment of children and the marooning of their grandparents, our own parents?

We know the effect on the elderly – what about the effect on our children?

One solution is to stop chasing the ‘own home dream’ and promoting the shared home. Subsidise home carers, not care homes; incentivise one working parent households.

A 24-work day would enable both parents to work and to care for the children and grandparents.

The pace and demands of our society is causing its disintegration at the edges.

We institutionalise the young and old, almost certainly deteriorating their mental health. We allow the drug addicts, destitute and depressed detritus of our commumities to sleep in the streets.

Is it not time we open our eyes and put our foot down?