Sandwiched between kids and aging parents? These initiatives will squeeze you harder

By Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner

A care crisis is squeezing working families, pushing parents out of much-needed jobs, and exacerbating labor shortages. All of this is also hurting businesses and our economy.

At the epicenter of this crisis, you’ll find moms, who studies show shoulder the majority of the unpaid labor of care – and who are squeezed to the extent that the U.S. Surgeon General just issued an “Advisory on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents,” noting a recent study showing 48% of parents say most days their stress is completely overwhelming.

This squeeze is more like a pressure-packed panini for moms who are in the “sandwich generation” – caring for children and aging parents or other family members at the exact same time. A large number of people are caught in this super pressured sandwich situation. Nearly half of adults in their 40s and 50s are experiencing the physical, emotional and financial challenges of having a senior parent and also a young or financially-dependent child at the same time.

It doesn’t have to be this hard. We can build a child care and eldercare infrastructure so parents can go to work, so children and elderly people can thrive, so care workers can earn living wages, and so businesses and our economy can bloom. In fact, Washington State has a great start on building this critical infrastructure and the benefits to our economy are already rolling in.

But two initiatives on the ballot here in Washington State would roll back the progress we’ve been making and would make bad situations even worse for millions of Washingtonians: Initiatives 2109 and 2124. If passed, these measures would harm not only moms, children, and their families, but also businesses and our state’s economy. Because of this, both deserve a “no” vote on the ballot this November.

Read the full article in the Tacoma News Tribune.