The “sandwich generation” is a rapidly-growing group of people that are “sandwiched” between taking care of family members and trying to hold a job.
According to the Pew Research Center, 23% of adults in the US are now part of the “sandwich generation,” a rapidly-growing group of people “sandwiched” between caring for multiple generations of family members and trying to hold a job or navigate a career, all with little or no support.
The emotional, financial and physical demands of being a sandwich generation caregiver can be crushing. Just last week, a piece titled “The Mental Load of Being a Sandwich Generation Caregiver” on Yahoo’s Parenting page highlighted the growing numbers and “rising anxiety” of family caregivers providing hours of unpaid labor – from transportation and doctor visits, to liaising with insurance companies, care facilities and lawyers, while also dealing with the demands of being a parent.”
In the July 26 issue of The New Republic, there is a review of Lynne Tillman’s gripping memoir of her harrowing experience as her mother’s caregiver. “How can an experience so common, one that can be so protracted and draining, both emotionally and financially, have such poor and limited solutions, and so often remain in the shadows?” asks the reviewer.
This OpEd originally was published in the Jerusalem Post