Category Archives: adult children

“No, you don’t need to bring in anyone to help me. I can take care of myself!” “But, Mom, everyone is going. You never let me do anything with my friends!” Are these the opening salvos in your talks with your parents and children nowadays? Lately we’ve received questions from Sandwiched Boomers about how to improve communications with family members – aging parents who are beginning to lose some mental sharpness, teenagers who are closing doors to parents, both literally and figuratively, grown offspring and their marital partners who are … Continue reading

Posted in adult children, aging parents, intimate partner, parenting kids, sandwich generation, well-being, your self | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Boomerang kids moving back home after college, unable to get a job or make enough money for independent living, is old news. Lately, issues facing the wave of Sandwiched Boomers – who are handling new responsibilities as their aging parents need more help – have been targeted by the media. This weekend, in the Los Angeles Times, there’s an article entitled “Middle-aged and living with Mom.” Apparently more people in their 40s and 50s, laid off from jobs, struggling in a difficult economy, unable to make ends meet, are settling … Continue reading

Posted in adult children, aging parents, sandwich generation, well-being, your self | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What did Barack Obama’s speech this morning have to do with Sandwiched Boomers? While discussing the complexity of his relationship to Reverend Wright, he was also referring to the macrocosm – the voter’s relationship to the American family and, on some level, our relationship to our own family. At one time or another we’ve all been distracted by the negatives – having to care for an aging parent who didn’t take good care of us growing up or or having to deal with an adult child who has lost his … Continue reading

Posted in adult children, aging parents, sandwich generation, well-being, your self | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Community” has always been a concept that women embrace for caregiving, as Shelley Taylor discusses in her book, “The Tending Instinct.” Through the ages, from prehistoric times until now, communities in which women “tend and befriend” each other have allowed them to survive and even thrive. Now the presence of community is contributing to the new movement of “aging in place,” seniors remaining in their own homes rather than moving elsewhere. Studies indicate that over 90% of the elderly prefer this option and that it provides a better quality of … Continue reading

Posted in adult children, aging parents, sandwich generation, well-being, your self | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments