We Are the Sandwich Generation
The generation born between 1950 and 1970 has often been called The Baby Boomer Generation. There have been some variations on that title including The Me Generation, The Vietnam Generation and even for the sake of a certain comedian, The Al Frankin Generation. But the title that is most appropriate to where we are now, as we become caregivers for our children as well as our aging parents is “The Sandwich Generation”.
This is a painfully appropriate term because those of us in our late 40s to early 60s find ourselves with responsibilities to the two generations before and after us, both of which can be quite needy. The result is a fair amount of stress on us as moms and dads with all the demands that rising children, teenagers or maybe the children of our children can put on adults in this new century.
At the same time, caring for aging parents can be even more stressful and hard on The Sandwich Generation from an emotional stress point of view. The stress we realize when our parents begin to age is a new thing for us. Making ourselves aware of the needs of newborn babies is not hard to get our arms around at all. When everybody in the generation is having babies, there is plenty of support and help for those who are learning the quirks of what babies need.
In addition to the great support and “parents training” classes and books, the arrival of a new baby in the house is a source of joy. There is great hope at the arrival of a new child and taking care of our children carries with it that creative element of doing something for the future. We see in our children our legacy so seeing them succeed and helping them overcome difficulty is exciting as we do all we can to “launch” the next generation of our family.
But caring for aging parents carries less support and far less optimism. While there is some joy in knowing that helping your parents live a happy and productive senior life keeps grandma and grandpa around for the children, the senior years are ones that will have only one outcome. And as much as we do what we can to make things easy and give our aging parents the comforts and joys of the golden years, all the sugar coating in the world wont cover up the fact that at some point the end will come and we, the Sandwich Generation will have to be there every step of the way to guide them through the end in the same way we guided our new children through babyhood.
The similarities between old age and infancy have been well documented. But it’s very hard on caregivers to go from being the ones these parents were always strong for who always took care of us to seeing that dynamic completely reverse. To see daddy who was always the smart one, the strong one and the one you could run to get weak and old and lose his mental sharpness is hard to watch. Now is the time when he has to turn to you.
It takes mature adults to be the sandwich generation. But we can take joy in knowing that, in a way, we are giving back to those strong parents who never spared any expense or time for us when we were growing up. Now when its you they need, they deserve no less devotion and dedication to doing all we can for them that they gave to us when we were youngsters.
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Where Should Grandma Live? Anyone who is charged with the task of caring for an aging parent, particularly the only ...
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Easing into Care Giving There is one axiom that if your parents don’t pass away young in life, you are ...
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Making a Difference Together There is something very self absorbed about the caregiver to senior citizen relationship. By that we ...
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Quality of Life for your Senior Citizen When you were growing up, your parents were your care givers. They made ...
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Is Mom a Sucker? Sometimes a caregiver is a combination of maid, doctor, spiritual advisor and amateur detective. It’s no ...
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Keeping it at Arm’s Length Sometimes when you have a very consuming problem, it can so take over your life ...
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Listening to Your Parents even Now Have you ever had that aggravation that you go over to your aging parents ...
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The Greatest Loss of Them All Perhaps the hardest task you will ever be faced with is to help one ...
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The Greatest Loss of Them All Perhaps the hardest task you will ever be faced with is to help one ...
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Is Mom a Sucker? Sometimes a caregiver is a combination of maid, doctor, spiritual advisor and amateur detective. It’s no ...
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Listening to Your Parents even Now Have you ever had that aggravation that you go over to your aging parents ...
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Does Grandpa Like Himself? Few of us think about our own self esteem. But how we feel about ourselves, our ...
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Giving Thanks for Being a Caregiver Much of the adjustment that goes into being a caregiver for your aging parent ...
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A Place to Go When you first started working with your elderly mom or dad in helping them settle into ...
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Going to a Better Place There are some momentous events in the life of a senior citizen. And few can ...
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Caring for the Caregiver The relationship between an elderly person and his or her caregiver is complex and intense sometimes. ...
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When the End is near Providing care for your adult parent during their retirement years can be a demanding job. ...
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A Place to Go When you first started working with your elderly mom or dad in helping them settle into ...
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We Are the Sandwich Generation The generation born between 1950 and 1970 has often been called The Baby Boomer Generation. ...
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Managing Your Senior Citizen’s Medications “Old people need a lot of pills.” That was an observation the grandson of my ...
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Guilt Helps Nobody If the job of being a caregiver only involved giving help to your aging parent such as ...
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The Caregiver’s Greatest Enemy Being a caregiver for your aging mom or dad could be compared to a battle. This ...
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Guilt Helps Nobody If the job of being a caregiver only involved giving help to your aging parent such as ...
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A Stressful Job It’s an understatement that being a caregiver for an elderly loved one is stressful. And in general, ...
read more
Senior Citizens Bill of Rights Sometimes when you and your elderly parent are partnering for their care, it seems like ...
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Going to a Better Place There are some momentous events in the life of a senior citizen. And few can ...
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The Caregiver’s Emotions There is a balance between the jobs of a caregiver and the feelings of a caregiver. If ...
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to We Are the Sandwich Generation. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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The Caregiver’s Emotions
When the End is near
The Caregiver’s Greatest Enemy
Where Should Grandma Live?
That Thing We Don’t Talk About
That Thing We Don’t Talk About
When is it Time to Step in?
Making a Difference Together
Caring for the Caregiver
Caregivers and the Work Place
Caregivers and the Work Place
When is it Time to Step in?
A Stressful Job
Senior Citizens Bill of Rights
Quality of Life for your Senior Citizen
Easing into Care Giving
Taking Care of Yourself is Part of the Job
Does Grandpa Like Himself?
Managing Your Senior Citizen’s Medications
Giving Thanks for Being a Caregiver
Where Should Grandma Live?
Easing into Care Giving
Making a Difference Together
Quality of Life for your Senior Citizen
Is Mom a Sucker?
Keeping it at Arm’s Length
Listening to Your Parents even Now
The Greatest Loss of Them All
Taking Care of Yourself is Part of the Job
The Greatest Loss of Them All
Is Mom a Sucker?
Listening to Your Parents even Now
Does Grandpa Like Himself?
Giving Thanks for Being a Caregiver
A Place to Go
Going to a Better Place
Caring for the Caregiver
When the End is near
A Place to Go
We Are the Sandwich Generation
We Are the Sandwich Generation
Keeping it at Arm’s Length
Managing Your Senior Citizen’s Medications
Guilt Helps Nobody
The Caregiver’s Greatest Enemy
Guilt Helps Nobody
A Stressful Job
Senior Citizens Bill of Rights
Going to a Better Place
The Caregiver’s Emotions
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