Hello!
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It's been a packed back-to-school season. I work for an EdTech company, so this is a busy time of year at work. Of course, I'm also helping my daughter with her transition back to school (transitions have always been among her least favorite parts of life, and she started the school year insisting she wouldn't go and needed more summer vacation...), and getting my son ready to start daycare! My mom has been very slowly settling into her new apartment, but there have been lots of bumps along the way. Change isn't easy for any of us, but I've seen how hard it can hit both my mom and my daughter lately. I'm in the middle of it all, just trying to take some care of myself. Tonight that looked like eating chocolate cookies, but other days it's a strength training session or reading a book. My friend got me hooked on the ACOTAR series, which is a true escape. How has back-to-school season been for you?
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Jenna

Articles of the week:

​Caregiver creep: how helping elderly relatives can snowball into a full-time job - The Guardian. Caregiver creep is a new term for me, but not a new experience. It's the gradual buildup of caregiving responsibilities for aging relatives, where small tasks accumulate into a heavy mental and emotional load over time. It reminds me of the boiling frog analogy. The article's core advice is to get ahead of it: start planning conversations early, before a parent's needs actually snowball, and bring other family members into the conversation from the start. As caregiving expert Hernandez puts it, more than half of the families she works with wish they'd started planning sooner, not because a decision has to be made right away, but because being prepared matters. The piece also encourages caregivers to loop in a social worker or senior living adviser to talk through things like aging-in-place options, safety, and budgeting, since no caregiver can (or should) manage it all alone.

​Stressed Parents Turn to Screens For Help, Study Finds - USNews. A new study of parents with young children found that when parents are stressed or overwhelmed, they’re more likely to turn to screens to calm or occupy their kids, and less likely to stick to screen-time limits. I hate to admit it, but am guilty as charged. The researchers point to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ “5 Cs” of media use as a way to think more intentionally about media use.

• Child: Think about your particular child and how their age, personality, strengths, challenges, and needs might shape their relationship with media.
• Content: What your child is watching or playing matters, not just how long they're doing it. Pay attention to things like violence, commercialism, unrealistic beauty standards, or negative role models.
• Calm: Pay attention to when and why you're reaching for a screen. Using one occasionally to help everyone get through a tough moment is different from relying on screens as your child's main or only way of managing big emotions.
• Crowding Out: Consider what screen time is taking the place of. Is it crowding out sleep, movement, play, family time, or time outdoors? Instead of focusing only on a specific screen time number, think about what you want to get back.
• Communication: Keep talking about media with your kids. Rather than having one big “screen time talk,” make it an ongoing conversation. Ask questions, stay open-minded, and help your kids develop the skills to navigate media thoughtfully.

Quote of the week:

Caregiving is notoriously underappreciated, but the world couldn't spin without caregivers. You have incredible value and worth as a person and as a caregiver, so whenever you have the chance, be kind to yourself in the way you talk to and about yourself.

Have your own Sandwich Generation story this week? Just hit reply, I'd love to hear it.