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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Annabel Streets

Walks, tech and protein: how to parent your own parents

Observer Parenting supplement illustration by Phil Hackett depicting a daughter reading to a child-size old parent
Many of us may find ourselves simultaneously parenting our kids and our parents Illustration: Phil Hackett/The Observer

Parenting no longer starts and stops with our children. Nor is it confined to those who have children. In a time of unrelenting change and ever-extending life, most of us will – at some stage – find ourselves “parenting” our own parents.

Indeed, many of us – particularly those who had families later – will find ourselves simultaneously parenting our kids and our parents. In one breath we’ll be begging our children to swap French fries for vegetables, and in the next breath we’ll be urging our parents to exchange cake for sardines. Little wonder today’s midlifers are known as the sandwich generation.

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