Today, Explained Burnout sandwich
43 snips
Apr 26, 2026 
Amy Goyer, AARP caregiving expert, joins Faith Hill, an Atlantic writer on families, and Alyssa Quart, a journalist covering economic hardship. They dig into the sandwich generation, emotional whiplash, invisible labor, and secondhand stress. They also explore longer lifespans, pricey child care, shrinking family networks, and the financial strain of caring for kids and parents at once.
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Alyssa Quart's Two Front Caregiving Crisis
- Alyssa Quart juggled her 90-year-old mother’s daily cancer treatments while her teenage daughter also got sick and was hospitalized.
- She called it a dark game of deciding which family member she would disappoint each day.
Why Caregiving Burnout Feels Structurally Unfair
- Caregiver burnout comes from being forced to build a private care system for problems that function like public responsibilities.
- Alyssa Quart says Americans individualize health risk, then expect families to absorb costs, bureaucracy, and labor alone.
How Beanpole Families Intensify Caregiving
- Longer lifespans and smaller families are turning the sandwich generation into a multigenerational squeeze.
- Faith Hill describes a beanpole family tree with more living generations but fewer siblings and cousins to share care.
