Two-year-old Brigette threw a tantrum in protest. She insisted that Grandma come to bed, too. Brianna, drained of all energy and ready for her daughter to get some sleep, hopelessly tried to get Brigette to stop running back to Grandma and get in bed.
Brigette was not having any of it. She screamed and stomped her feet. She didn’t want to go to bed while Grandma was still awake in the living room. She motioned her hand toward Grandma and whined for her to come with them. Brianna sighed. She knew getting Brigette to sleep would be a hassle, especially because they sleep in the same bed.
Brianna Kern is a 24-year-old stay-at-home mom who lives with her mother, step-father, and older brother. She is one of the 25 percent of Millennials who are already parents, according to Millennial Marketing, a Barkley-owned website that uses research to inform marketers of trends about the Millennial generation.
Millennials are more likely to raise their kids in the same house as extended family, like Brianna does, or nearby extended family. Pew Research Center reports that this multi-generational style of living is making a comeback, and in 2011, Millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 were most likely to live in multi-generational households compared to all other age groups.
In 2012, nearly 57 million Americans lived in multi-generational homes. This is in contrast to the decline of extended family households that happened throughout most of the twentieth century.
“It’s a village,” said Brianna. “Everybody’s helping [with Brigette]; nobody’s upset that she’s there or is inconvenienced in any way.”
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