I talked to a twenty-something young man the other day who had never heard the term “Sandwich Generation”.
Basically, the idea is that anyone who has kids (whether they’re young or older but who still need financial support and/or who live at home) and also elderly parents who they are responsible for caring for is part of the “sandwich generation.”
This is an increasing reality for a variety of reasons: people having kids later in the life so still having to support them when, in earlier times, those people might’ve had kids by age twenty and those kids would be out on their own, possibly with kids of their own, by twenty as well. Also parents living longer due to advances in science and health which means that their kids might end up caring for them longer than they would’ve in earlier generations when lifespans were shorter and/or families were larger so the caregiving was divided among multiple children instead of just one or two.
Of course, although it can involve a lot of stress and strong emotions, it’s not that being part of the sandwich generation is a bad thing – grandkids benefit greatly from having grandparents who are still alive; grandparents are able to also give support in various ways – financial, babysitting, or even providing baked goods on occasion!
Anyhow, here’s more on the topic…
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