Joint family living is extinct custom in most Indian lineages. Due to this extinct idea, upcoming generations will miss, not only cultural inheritance but also biological inheritance.

Cultural inheritance – easy to understand. Common sense. Google

In classroom biology, we are taught about DNA based biological inheritance from paternal and maternal lines but story does not end there.

Exposure-sensitive periods in childhood and sex-specific transmissions are features that support biological rather than cultural transmission. Story begins with grand-parents exposure to children during exposure-sensitive growth periods. Grand-father and grand-mother – both plays critical role of transmitting surrogate biological instructions to growing children. Surrogate instructions are those gene expression, which are not transmitted by parents in their DNA. These gene-expressions, provide extra protection against most possible generational immunity buildup. Modern science has just started investigating this link. [Some studies are shared at the end of this note. This studies also suggest that why it is important for you to discard bad habits and develop good habits.]

And what do we do with our grandparents? We send them to old age home! What a stupid generation! Crime against civilization! If you love your children (which is possible if they are not product of your sex instinct and are not accidently delivered due to one night mistake i.e. Not so planned parenting) Think twice before you decide to live separate from your parents.

Parents, grand-parents, siblings, cousins – they all play role in child development [1]. I know many parents, sacrificing career opportunities to focus on child development. Results are amazing. Take care in national interest. Your child is future citizen. Do not produce weak generation. Fight against modern societal perils. Encourage joint family living.

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Research

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[1] Family structure, neonatal infection, and hay fever in adolescence.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1511536/

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether increased numbers of siblings and infection in early life protect against allergic sensitisation. DESIGN: Historical cohort study. SETTING: Sheffield, UK. SUBJECTS: 11,765 children aged 11-16 years for whom a history of neonatal infectious illness had been recorded systematically at 1 month of age. METHODS: A history of hay fever and family structure was obtained by postal questionnaire; neonatal illness history was ascertained from health visitor records; 723 children underwent skin prick testing with mixed grass pollen extract. RESULTS: The prevalence of hay fever was reduced (p < 0.0001) among children of younger mothers, and those from larger families. The number of older siblings exerted a stronger independent effect than the number of younger siblings (p < 0.001). Infants breast fed exclusively during the first month were at higher risk (p < 0.05) of subsequent hay fever, independent of demographic factors. Adolescents at high risk of hay fever by virtue of their family structure were more likely to be sensitised to grass pollen (p < 0.002). No significant relations emerged between hay fever and infection in the first month of life, even among children born in June. CONCLUSIONS: The association of hay fever with family structure is not due to reporting bias and reflects an environmental influence on allergic sensitisation. The effects of sibship size, birth order, and infant feeding are consistent with a protective influence of postnatal infection. The first month of life and the first postnatal exposure to allergen are not the critical periods during which this protective effect is determined.

Grandma’s Experiences Leave a Mark on Your Genes

Your ancestors’ lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain.

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes

Your Diet Affects Your Grandchildren’s DNA, Scientists Say

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes

You are what you eat, the saying goes. And, according to two new genetic studies, you are what your mother, father, grandparents and great-grandparents ate, too.

Diet, be it poor or healthy, can so alter the nature of one’s DNA that those changes can be passed on to the progeny. While this much has been speculated for years, researchers in two independent studies have found ways in which this likely is happening.

The findings, which involve epigenetics, may help explain the increased genetic risk that children face compared to their parents for diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Time to take epigenetic inheritance seriously

http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v10/n11/full/5200901a.html

Whilst one striking result relates to the grandfather’s food availability, epigenetic transmission from just father to child would be sufficient to set up a cascade of metabolic responses down the generations.