Personal and family responsibilities don’t always align. Take university student and Reddit user Kb10131, for example. Recently, he had planned to spend the entire weekend preparing one of his assignments, but, at the very last minute, his stepfather told him he had to babysit his stepbrother. The guy tried to object but didn’t receive any sympathy, so he snapped and blurted out everything he thought was wrong with the situation. This led to a tense standoff, and now he’s wondering if there was a better way to handle the predicament.
Many parents rely on family for unpaid childcare
Image credits: pvproductions/Freepik (not the actual photo)
However, as this story shows, they might not always be available, so if you don’t plan ahead, it can lead to heated arguments
Image credits: EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: kb10131
Family caregiving responsibilities—both for children and adults—affect millions of Americans every day
Image credits: Sandra Seitamaa/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
A new report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) found that one in four American adults is a family caregiver. This amounts to roughly 59 million people. Of these, 94% care for adults, and one in three is under age 50. Caregivers are increasingly diverse across race, income, and generation. Twenty-nine percent are sandwich generation caregivers, supporting both children and adults.
Of all the caregivers, however, only 11.2 million were paid for their services in 2025 — and most of them reported that they were only paid for some of their care, leaving many of their duties unpaid.
One in five caregivers reports poor health; a quarter are taking on debt due to caregiving. Half report losing money due to caregiving, and one in five cannot afford basic needs like food.
Image credits: calecrunchy/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
For people pursuing their degree, it might be even more difficult. According to a survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of McGraw Hill, a majority of students who responded reported feeling overwhelmed (57%) and stressed (56%) because of their studies.
Because of this, two‑thirds of students (66%) say they have to choose between schoolwork and obligations outside of school.
Most of those who read what happened said the student did nothing wrong when setting his boundaries
But some believe he should’ve been more accommodating
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