Kate Washington was a successful essayist, food writer, and mom to two daughters, ages 5 and 9, when her young husband was stricken with a debilitating illness. After a grueling 4-month hospital stay, her husband was sent home with vision loss, inability to walk, IV nutrition and 35 different medications. With no medical training, Kate suddenly became the provider of a kind of care she never imagined. She found her own energy depleted and her previous identity erased as she navigated motherhood and caregiving for this man with such an uncertain future.

 

Where was Kate to find the support she needed to sustain her through these overwhelming demands? What could friends and relatives say and do to be helpful during these long months and years of difficulty? How did government policies work for or against Kate and her family? How many women find themselves in similar circumstances to Kate’s? And what changes in policy and practice could ease the strain on those caregivers, especially those sandwiched between motherhood and caring for elders, spouses or other loved ones? Don’t miss this important Mom Enough episode about this crisis of unpaid, often unsupported, caregiving among women across the country.

 

HAVE YOU BEEN IN AN OVERWHELMING CAREGIVING SITUATION?

Have you been in an overwhelming caregiving situation, or do you know someone who has? What resources (formal or informal) help in such a situation? What practical steps do you think communities, states and our nation could take to alleviate the burden of caregiving, especially for women?

 

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CAREGIVING AND BURNOUT?

❉ PARENTAL BURNOUT: HOW PRESSURE TO MEASURE UP IS EXHAUSTING MILLENNIALS (AND EVERYONE ELSE!) Let’s face it, parenting in today’s world can be taxing. With impossible societal standards and unattainable social media ideals for what parents should be, it’s no wonder people are feeling burnt out. Author Anne Helen Petersen began to notice that she and her peers were struggling to accomplish simple tasks. As she reviewed articles about what she was noticing, she came to recognize this experience as burnout. Petersen joins Mom Enough to discuss parental burnout among millennials (and all parents). .