This comprehensive, instructive, and entertaining book is full of information and resources for middle-aged adults faced with the complexities of raising children while caring for elders.
According to Pew Center research, 1 in every 8 Americans aged 40–60 is caring for both their children and their parents—and this group is growing. Better medical care, longer life spans, the current economic crisis, and the cultural trend of having children later in life are all contributing factors to the increasing numbers of the so-called "Sandwich Generation."
Multigenerational caregiving has become a prevalent phenomenon in the generation of Baby Boomers. Nurturing children as they rapidly evolve and grow as individuals while simultaneously assisting elderly parents to live with—and then exit life with—dignity and respect can be a trying experience. The good news: there can be great joy in this capacity as well.
Strength for the Sandwich Generation: Help to Thrive While Simultaneously Caring for Our Kids and Our Aging Parents addresses the multiple complexities that arise for the millions of middle-aged adults caring for both their children and their elders, providing the caregiver with resources and information that include strategies for caring for the self, children, and elders; handling financial strain; and addressing moral and ethical dilemmas. A licensed clinical psychologist, author Kristine Bertini shows midlife readers how to balance their demanding and multiple roles while also making meaning and finding genuine happiness in their complex world.
Features
• Utilizes instructive case examples to expose the intricacies of challenges like simultaneously caring for children and elders
• Contains a bibliography of more than 50 reference sources
• Provides an insightful "Creed for the Caregiver"
• Offers a model of daily routine with a workspace for the reader to design their own schedule
Highlights
• Provides hope and help for the overwhelmed and overworked multigenerational caregiver
• Examines the complexities of the midlife transition compounded by being a caregiver
• Emphasizes the basic needs for the self amidst the challenges of providing for others
• Offers a valuable resource chapter for the multigenerational caregiver
Kristine Bertini is a licensed clinical psychologist and director of health and counseling services at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME. Bertini is a member of the Sandwich Generation, simultaneously caring for her parents, one of whom has dementia, and her two stepdaughters, ages 10 and 11. Her published works include Understanding and Preventing Suicide: The Development of Self-Destructive Patterns and Ways to Alter Them. Bertini is a returned Peace Corps volunteer who spent time in Micronesia and currently volunteers for the American Red Cross.
