Agreed. But a silver lining of the pandemic is that my wife is now my office mate. As a result, we've spent the majority of most days together over the last 8 months and I could not be happier!
Yeah, I imagine this is testing some marriages, but I think my spouse and I are both happier for spending more time together. It really depends on living arrangements as well - just our office space is nearly as large as our first apartments entire living space so we can take the time apart we need.
It also depends on personalities - my wife and I share 650 square feet, have for years. This year has been pleasant even though there’s no “time apart” and no privacy. We also have a dog in that small area.
There’s more to it than just affording large luxury housing.
In many situations (daycare, elder care) the caregivers are by no means strangers. My 2 year old spends as much or more time with her daycare teachers and classmates than she does with my wife and I.
They love her and she loves them. Just because they aren't blood doesn't mean they don't play a huge part in her day to day experience and growth. In fact, they play a much larger part in her world than her grandparents or other family that she only sees several times a year.
It feels to easy to dismiss these folks as 'not as good as family' when, at least in my experience, they are much more than just paid baby sitters.
Parents and children are a generation away, there are flights over cultural differences that drive wedges. I'm glad I only see my Fox News repeating parents once a week.
However my co-workers are my peers who I can bounce ideas off.
This isn't new or Western either. Japan has a phrase "Foolish father" that both means what it sounds like, but also respect that everyone has a father. A more general term "filial piety".
When frequent contact with parents is stigmatized after certain age, which it is in USA, then old people get lonely as they age and their contact with children will go down ...