Sandwiched
According to the AARP, the average caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who works at least part time and has been taking care of an aging parent for several years.
The National Partnership for Women and Families states that more than 25 million women – almost one in seven – provide care to family members or friends. Many of these women (37 percent) are part of the sandwich generation, providing care to both aging parents and children living at home.
The Partnership goes on to say that women with family caregiving responsibilities are more likely to report fair to poor health compared with women who do not have caregiving responsibilities (25 percent vs. 17 percent).
I’m 49 years old and definitely in the sandwich generation. Thankfully my health is good – knock on wood!
Why am I sharing all of this with you, other than to make me realize I’m pretty much living the above scenario? Because I think two things have been missing from this column that I intend to address more often in the future – the challenges of middle age and, for women, menopause.
By the way, middle age men account for almost 40 percent of the caregiver population according to caregiver.com. My husband and his brother are proof of this, as both have taken care of their parents during various health battles in the last couple of decades.
Middle age brings challenges for both men and women, especially with our health. Many of us are helping our children prepare to leave the nest, potentially facing college, wedding and other costs.
And for women, it brings that stage of life no one seems to want to talk about – menopause. Or, as you’re approaching menopause, perimenopause, the time period I’m currently tackling in life.
I think it’s time to focus more on both of these “m” words in future columns, especially since 34 percent of the population in the U.S. is aged 50 and over. And many of them are in the sandwich generation.
I’ll talk more about what I’ve been doing to ease the challenges of both categories of life and information I’ve found in my research that may help sandwich generation readers. I believe it’s time to stop hiding from these issues and face them to help us not only feel good, but become better caregivers for those we love.
I hope to help many readers find relief on various levels for both topics.
On a final note, one funny thing I realized as I was preparing to write this column is that my mother faced her own challenge when she was 49 years old – raising a pre-teen daughter. Yep, that was me. Even though her two other children were already married with their own kids during this time, I can imagine she faced many struggles with me! There may be a story or two along these lines as well. Stay tuned!