Spare a thought for ‘Generation Sandwich’

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.