The Sh*t Sandwich | The Sandwich Generation, Ageing Parents & the Mental Load

When you’re caring for everyone, who’s looking after you? You’re raising kids. Your parents are getting older. Work hasn’t slowed down. The washing still needs doing, dinner still needs making, appointments need organising, someone needs a lift somewhere, and somehow you’re meant to look after yourself too. Welcome to the sandwich generation. In Episode 6 of The Parts We Hide, Victoria Braithwaite and Dr Pennie Taylor APD talk about what it really feels like to be squeezed between competing responsibilities and why so many people, particularly women, quietly carry an enormous physical and emotional load. As mothers, business owners and women navigating the competing demands of children, careers and ageing parents, Victoria and Pennie know what it feels like to be caught in the middle. Drawing on their own experiences, Victoria supporting families through The Family Cook, and Pennie’s extensive work across health and wellbeing, they unpack ageing parents, residential aged care, parenting, work, guilt, exhaustion, caring responsibilities and the invisible logistics that keep families functioning. Because sometimes life really is a sh*t sandwich and pretending we’re coping perfectly doesn’t make it any easier. This is the part we don’t always talk about: what happens when everybody needs something from you at once. The Parts We Hide Because the parts we hide are often the parts that connect us. #ThePartsWeHide #SandwichGeneration #AgeingParents #MentalLoad #Caregiving #Motherhood #Carers #Midlife #WomensHealth #australianpodcast