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The biggest problem facing senior citizens today is the lack of family unity. Families are becoming more and more dysfunctional and with more women entering and staying in the workforce the older generation are receiving less contact from their family members.

In earlier generations, older members were a vital part of the family, providing support, care and companionship to all ages of the family unit. However with most families now being two income families there is a huge stress upon younger family members to continue working to maintain this chosen lifestyle. This results in less or no free time to spend visiting and caring for other family members and unfortunately it is usually the aging members of the family who receive the least family time.

In Australia it is common to place aged parents into nursing homes where they receive the specialized care they require. However this also results in elderly people being partially forgotten as they wait patiently for visits from their family members. Many aged people in care receive no visits from family or friends, and many people receive visits only on special occasions like birthdays, Mother's Day and Father's Day. This is in stark contrast to the days when the elderly were vital parts of the family unit, when their opinions and experience were sought after and valued.

Unfortunately, because of the fast-paced lives we now lead we have forgotten the most important members of our families, the people who gave us life and love and the people who love us unconditionally. They sit and wait, hoping that the younger generations will seek them out for advice or companionship - anything to make them feel like a valuable part of the family unit.

This does not appear to be a problem that will be fixed in the short term. With more and more women taking professional roles in the workforce there is no carer at home for the aged parent, and any spare time working women do have is taken up with their own children and their needs. Our older generation is becoming forgotten by the family unit and the age-old practice of families of different generations sharing the family home is becoming obsolete. The words Nursing Home have become common when speaking of aged parents and the sadness of this is that everybody loses. Children don't have the contact with grandparents that they used to, and parents don't have time to care for and spend time with their own parents. Everybody loses, especially the aged. They are the forgotten generation.

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