I used to roll my eyes at my mom's overprotective texts. Now I send the same messages to her and to my daughter.
A personal essay explores the cycle of parenting and caregiving as the author reflects on her aging mother's overprotective habits. The author realizes she has adopted similar anxious behaviors toward her own college-aged daughter.
Why it matters
This piece highlights the universal emotional challenges of the 'sandwich generation' balancing care for aging parents and maturing children.
The author (not pictured) cares for her mom and her daughter. Courtesy of the author Living with my aging mother changed how I understood her worries. I realized I had started treating my college daughter the same way. Parenting and caregiving have become mirror images of each other. I bounded upstairs to retrieve the laundry basket , trying to tack on one more chore before losing the day to my remote job's endless emails and Zoom meetings. As I picked up the strewn-out clothes — this is why my husband's a software engineer rather than a basketball player — I noticed my phone screen light up. It was Mom. She's away visiting my sister for a few weeks. "Are you OK. Send me a message you are OK," her WhatsApp text read.
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