All in the family

While moving out was once considered Car a rite of passage, for these three families a return to multi-generational living has led to a host of happy benefits.

-  JENNY BROWN

Laughing out loud, spectacles steaming up and colourful cardigan flying, artist Dorothée Heibel swings higher and higher as she explores the local playground with grandson Luca. To daughter Michèle, watching a little anxiously from the sidelines, this joyous scene somehow sums up the highs and lows of multi-generational living - sharing a household with extended family.

"Mum will do things with us that she wouldn't do on her own," smiles Michèle, also an artist who sometimes exhibits alongside her much-loved parent.

"But I must admit it stresses me out hugely whenever she wants to try risky things with Luca", pictured here with his mum and grandma, "because she has osteoporosis and arthritis."

No-nonsense, Swiss-born Dorothée simply chuckles: "It keeps me young, you know. It's a good challenge to walk on uneven stepping stones, or feel the wind in my hair on a swing. On good days I can do that and laughing with Luca helps me forget my pain. Living with a child brings so much. It keeps you grounded in actual life - what happens every day - not just watching or listening to the news."

At a youthful 76, Dorothée is game for anything from a round of minigolf to studying Japanese with her 12-year-old grandson. She passes on family history, stories of their European heritage, old-fashioned skills. "Knitting wasn't the coolest though," jokes articulate, thoughtful Luca, whose friends envy him having a grandmother on site.

Together they feed the chooks, walk live-wire Labrador Gumnut or go birdwatching in the bush around the Heibels' peaceful rural property. Single mother Michèle, 49, lives at the end of the home with Luca, while Dorothée inhabits the other.