Why Caregiving Can Be More Challenging for Millennials

Typically, we care for aging relatives as we are in midlife or even the early stages of older adulthood ourselves. However, there are millions of Millennials—those born from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s—who are caring for aging relatives right now. Intensive caring for older family members can completely transform their life plans.

“My life was uprooted in the blink of an eye,” says Adrienne Glusman, who was 29 and single when she had to become her mother’s caregiver. Her mom was in her mid-60s and living in Florida when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. At first it seemed manageable, but then she fell and hit her head and wasn’t discovered for 12 hours. That led Glusman to become her mother’s caregiver.

In the Wall Street Journal article “The Millennial Caregiver,” Glusman talks about what it was like to take over her mother’s finances, medical care, and therapy—all while still working full-time.

Millennials are now 24% of the unpaid caregivers in the U.S., according to the article. In fact, there are an estimated 6.2 million Millennials who are caring for a parent, parent-in-law, or grandparent, according to the AARP.

This caregiving happens at a time when many Millennials are establishing their career, meeting friends and potential spouses, and starting a family. Among the group of Millennial caregivers, most are working full time and devoting an average of 21 hours each work to caregiving, according to the WSJ article.

The caregiving obligation falls to Millennials who may not have other family members who can care for ailing relatives. In certain cultures, the obligation to care for older family members always falls squarely on the shoulder of the younger generation, no matter their age.

Call Secure Aging to Find Out How We Can Help Seniors With Care Management

Caregiving can be challenging for anyone, but Millennials may face greater challenges than others. That’s where Secure Aging can help. At Secure Aging in Bradenton, we transform the weight of the world into a sigh of relief for our senior clients and their concerned family members. The mission of Secure Aging is to protect and preserve our client’s independence and dignity through careful and thoughtful financial and care management. As our clients age, it is their desire to remain independent and age with dignity. Our services protect our clients from talented con artists looking to exploit and deplete the financial resources of our vulnerable seniors. Secure Aging helps families in Manatee County and Sarasota County and in and around the communities of Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Ellenton, Holmes Beach, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Myakka City, Palmetto, Parrish, and Sarasota. Call us at 941-761-9338, or visit us online at www.secureaging.com.

 

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