Grandma's 72 and still working to support her children — and theirs
Joann Ernst, a 72-year-old grandmother, is delaying her retirement to provide financial and practical support for her adult children and grandchildren. Her story reflects a growing trend of older Americans acting as the primary safety net for their families.
Why it matters
This underscores the economic strain on the 'sandwich generation' and the increasing necessity for older adults to remain in the workforce to support family members.
Joann Ernst has played a "motherly" role in her grandchildren's lives. Roy de la Cruz for BI Joann Ernst, 72, shook her head as her older grandson decapitated an action figure. The other laid out puzzle pieces in a line, surrounded by a sea of toys. "You have to put all the Play-Doh back in the container so it doesn't dry out," Ernst called out to the 5- and 7-year olds. Ernst is not the boys' legal guardian . She's spent the past two years living with her son Jack, helping with her grandsons on weekends. Jack had struggled to work after losing an arm in an accident, so Ernst took a job in the special education department of a local school, paid his rent, and spent weekends shopping for the boys and disciplining them "as a mother would."
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