Caring for our parents as they age seems like the obvious way to repay them. Yet, some people ask:...
Category: Caring for a Parent
The Silent Epidemic Affecting Generation Z
as of 2020, more than one in six Americans was actively responsible for the daily needs and...
The Switzerland schedule
“Your mother,” he told us, “has multiple sclerosis.” Whatever that was. I carried on with my day...
As she nursed her mom through cancer and dementia, a tense relationship began to heal
In March 2020, Lori traveled to Florida to help Audrey move into an assisted living facility, a...
How to Rescue a Grieving Friend
Before my father’s decline, he was a preeminent scholar of Black religious history. As brilliant...
On #dementia TikTok, family caregivers find support and bring the disease to light
"My mom was taking care of her mom, who had Alzheimer's, [and] not telling anybody how hard it was...
Am I Obligated to Look After My Insufferable Mother?
My mother has an undiagnosed mental illness that makes her incapable of accepting reality and that...
Careers and Caregiving: An impossible juggling act?
My story speaks to the structural constraints on faculty members in “the sandwich generation” and...
Becoming a Caregiver When Your Parent Wasn’t There for You
Family caregiving is commonly viewed as an act of love. So much so that the phrase "caring for a...
The Mental Load of Being a Sandwich Generation Caregiver
Writer and musician Tanuja Desai-Hidier lives in a multigenerational home in Maine with her aging...
You Do Not Owe Your Parents
There is a type of adult-child and parent relationship that rarely ever works out. It’s the one...
We need to address society’s unrealistic view of caregivers
Who cares? When picturing a caregiver, the person who comes to mind is almost invariably female....
At 29, I wasn’t prepared to be a caregiver. Life had other plans
I was on the subway headed to a friend’s comedy show on the Lower East Side when I received a call...
The philosophy of selfhood became real when my mother got dementia
At first, my mother, the poet Anne Atik, had seemed just ordinarily confused. Then, very...
And So on and So Forth
The woman is my mother, who is 81 and losing her memory, the past dissolving each day like so many...
The #Midwessay: Sarah Cords, You Can’t Go Home Again
Just lately it is even harder to stay in my house, my geographical middle. This is because my...
Can I Sever Ties With My Selfish Sister?
Several years ago, I told my sister that I wouldn’t be upset if we never spoke again. Recently her...
Queen Latifah On Being Her Mom’s Caregiver: ‘I Would Just Want to Fall Apart’
On top of her work in entertainment, she’s also held the role of caregiver. In 2018, Latifah lost...
My dad now makes risky choices and I need to accept the role reversal
I pull up in front of the house, knowing Dad will not be waiting to greet me. Having trouble...
How to Coordinate a Parent’s Care With Siblings
When it becomes clear that an aging parent needs caregiving, it’s uncharted territory for adult...
I feel guilty for checking my mother into long-term care against her will
For close to two hours, my mom had stubbornly resisted our cajoling, pleading and arguing as we...
When siblings become caregivers
All of Marlene’s children live within an hour of her Michigan home, yet Sheila, who lives the...
How My Father Escaped Jail for Christmas
My mother and father never married. This meant, as my mother explained, that I was his legal next...
Things I’ll Do Differently When I’m Old
Soon after my 50th birthday, 10 years ago, I started keeping a list of “Things I will do/things I...