It has taken a couple of generations but the reason our ancestors had large families is a lesson that will have to be relearned.
Up until recently it was the families oblication to take care of the young and the old.
obligation
When my grandmother became very sick at 89 and unable to live on her own, all options were explored. Having one of her daughters care for her would have meant moving her 800 miles away from the little Northern Maine town she’d lived in all her life, away from still-living siblings and nieces, nephews and SILs, to a townhouse where she couldn’t have climbed the stairs to bathe (only half-bath downstairs). Where she knew no one who would visit during the day as they did where she’d lived, and being on her own all day as my mother still had to work (being only 58 herself). Or a nursing home very nearby where she lived, where local family could visit often and she knew many of the staff members. She ended up passing away before a decision had to be made but it’s not an easy choice either way and it’s not always just because the family doesn’t want to be bothered.
It was much easier when there were family members home all day to help care for someone.