Relationships-How to Juggle the Responsibilities of Caring For Children and Aging Parents

Many adults between the ages of 35 and 55 are now referred to as the "sandwich generation". This term has become more popular in recent years, to explain adults who have the dual responsibilities of taking care of children and aging parents at the same time.

Men and women who fall into the sandwich generation often have children of their own still living at home. Sometimes these are teenagers or young adults, but because many women have chosen to wait to start a family so sometimes there are even younger children still living in the home too. At the same time though, their parents are getting older and may need additional care also, so these men and women find themselves trying to care for their children, care for their parents, have careers, and still have time for a loving marriage as well.

This combination of responsibilities can be daunting and it is often a great cause of stress and burnout, because too often women generally will try to do it all on their own.

Thanks to advances in medical science and health care though, our parents are living to much older ages than they ever have before. This means however, that men and women who have taken on the role of caretakers for their aging family members need to make extra efforts to balance all the roles in their lives. If they don't reach some sort of balance which includes rest and recuperation time for themselves, they run the risk of making themselves sick from trying to do too much, and not being able to care for anyone in the end.

Juggling all of these responsibilities at once is possible, but it helps to have a plan of action, and a large support network in place. Your support network needs to provide you with help, experience, advice, and emotional resources too.

One of the first things you should do is speak to your employer or supervisor. Once you have the dual roles of caring for both children and aging parents, you may find yourself called away from work more frequently due to medical problems or emergencies. Because of this possibility, it's important to let your supervisor know about the increased responsibilities in advance so they're aware of the potential problems you may encounter.

Another excellent reason to speak to your boss is because there may be flexible work schedules that can be put into place that will help you with the increased responsibilities. Your employer may allow you to work from a home office part time or there may be employer sponsored programs in place that either provide you with child and adult care services or refer you to services that will help as well.

Secondly, you need to find a caregiver support group in your local area. Meeting with other people who have had similar experiences with balancing both children and aging parents is extremely important for your own mental health. Providing care for so many people while also trying to balance a career and maintain a healthy marriage is extremely stressful, and one of the biggest risks is the caregiver themselves burning out or becoming sick from trying to do too much.

Having a solid support network in place can help relieve a lot of the stress that comes with trying to balance these multiple roles and just having someone to talk to who understands your unique issues is extremely helpful too.

Caregiver support groups will also be a great resource of information and contacts. They'll be able to refer you to specialty care services for your aging parents for instance, if they become sick. The support group will also be able to refer you to health providers who are specialists in a certain area of need. fill you in on available recreation and socialization services for your elderly parents while you're working. The will also give you advice on juggling the children's schedules with your own, and much, much more.