Everyone Needs Me: The Reality of Sandwich Generation
Previa Alliance Podcast
The episode explores the complex realities of the 'sandwich generation,' focusing on individuals who are simultaneously caring for their chi
Key takeaways
- The sandwich generation involves managing care for children ranging from infants to college students alongside aging parents or relatives.
- Caregiving often shifts from physical assistance to acting as a 'medical social worker' to navigate healthcare systems.
Main topics
- Sandwich Generation
- Mental Load
Notable quotes
I am not your daughter. I'm your medical social worker right now.
Conclusion
The episode serves as a supportive guide for caregivers, offering acti
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:03) Hi guys, welcome back to Preview Alliance Podcast. Oh, Whitney, our favorite maternal therapist. Hey friends. Now, let's talk. Speaker 2 (0:21) sandwich generation because your girl's been feeling it on all sides recently. And I was like, wait, is this something that like adulthood that you enter that no one again tells you about that you're just in it until you're in it. And they're like, yeah, it's a thing. It's where you have reached that point of your life. You're self-functioning. You're doing your thing. You have children. That could be from pregnancy, little babies to, you Speaker 1 (0:54) know, Speaker 2 (0:54) teens, college. Right. Because then you have your parents or your, say if it's your aunt, uncle or someone that you're now, like their primary caregiver or assistant to. And even you could be like I was where I have my grandparents in the mix too. So I have three kind of generations. Speaker 1 (1:13) Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:14) And. That's been a conversation we've been having a lot just in our personal lives of, okay, how do we now balance flag football schedule, school stuff, work stuff? Okay, when is my parent having this surgery? Okay, wait, what? Okay, my grandfather was in and out of the hospital. Your brain has now went so many ways. And it doesn't have to just be. physical caregiving. It could be emotional caregiving. Oh, Speaker 1 (1:46) absolutely. Absolutely. Well, and I think what is so hard is every generation eventually becomes the sandwich generation. Speaker 2 (1:54) I don't Speaker 1 (1:55) think it's specific to millennials or even Gen Xers right now, but I think, you know, we grow up and we've got our parents taking care of us and eventually we see them help take care of our grandparents. But I don't know about you, but in my mind, When that happened, I felt like my mom and dad were like in their fifties and I'm here at 40. I'm like, I have time for this. And I'm like, no, my parents were in their mid forties when all this started up. Like, oh my gosh, what do you mean? And then that reality check of, oh, my parents are 68 and 70. Granted, they're in great health, all the things, but I'm also like, shoot, where are we going to be in five years? Speaker 2 (2:41) Yeah, it does Speaker 1 (2:42) hold for us. And again, we're juggling our kids. Even if you have kids that are high school, college age that are mostly independent, you're still a parent. You're still checking on them. You're still making sure that they're doing OK. You know, I still call my mom for things. Always. That's what you do. And my grandparents are gone now. But there are times I'm like, you know what? I really wish I could call pop. He would know how to handle this. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then we're over here taking care of our kids. And then we might start to see things that our parents either maybe they're not as physically stable as they were. Maybe they're tripping or falling a little bit more. Maybe they're more forgetful. Maybe we're over there saying, hey, did you remember to do that follow up with your doctor? Did you go to the pharmacy and get that prescription? Or I can remember in early