Mark Piggott

Spare a thought for ‘Generation Sandwich’

  • From Spectator Life

Sunday was fairly typical. The police picked up Mum, 73, wandering in distress near Halifax bus station, cold, disorientated and lost. Son, 15, was walking with a friend in north London when two older boys stopped them and demanded to know if they were dealing drugs before scrolling through their phones to check. Daughter, 18 was determined to go see her boyfriend despite feeling ill and Dad, 77, sat in a pub on the Yorkshire Moors nursing a pint of ale and a failing heart.

While all this was going on, I was mopping floors, cleaning dishes, hanging out washing, and trying to write a book. When Son, 15 arrived home panting because he’d run all the way home, my wife and I spent some time calming him down and reassuring him that such incidents are rare. When Daughter, 18 didn’t respond to texts asking when she was coming home, I realised my new phone was faulty, and at ten walked to the Tube station to await her return. Sometimes it feels like there’s never any time to switch off.

Around three per cent of the UK population (many of them members of so-called ‘Generation X’) is currently classed as being part of the sandwich generation

Having left home aged 16 and landing in London at 18, I find myself needing to return to Yorkshire to care for my parents more frequently now, which would be fine except my kids still need me – and I have nowhere to stay. Mum lives in sheltered housing and my presence would confuse her; there’s no room at dad’s because my stepbrother is there. Sometimes I travel there and back by train in a day, at considerable expense – not least to my sanity.

I’m far from alone. Around three per cent of the UK population (many of them members of so-called ‘Generation X’) is currently classed as being part of the sandwich generation, and this number is expected to rise sharply due to demographic changes.

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