December 13, 2005
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Boomers' Burdens: Their Kids, Parents
"As they step closer to old age, baby boomers -- that enormous group of Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -- say they are reaching deeper into their pockets to care for elderly parents and offspring in their twenties who are struggling to launch their own lives, according to a study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. Even as they approach retirement, the 75 million surviving boomers, who make up a quarter of the nation's population, remain in the ‘sandwich’ years and a larger percentage than in the past are helping their parents and their adult children financially.”
Women's Struggles, Men's Aspirations Combine to Redefine 'Stay-at-Home Dad'
"As more men call themselves stay-at-home dads, they redefine for both men and women what it means to stay home with kids. Men have learned a lot from watching women struggle with home life. The superwoman syndrome of the 1980s squashed the desire to juggle committed parenting with a 60-hour workweek, and the Rolling Stones' lyrics about valium as "mother's little helper" do not fall on deaf ears; raising kids is hard. So today's stay-at-home dad probably has some kind of work outside of parenting. He might not be earning much money, but he has the wisdom of generations before him to know that the money isn't what matters.”
A Growing Number of Employees are Staying Away from the Office
"Ah, the joys of telecommuting -- especially on a snow and slush day like Friday. According to the latest count, 140,694 federal employees worked at home or at a telework center last year. Through the magic of computers and telephone lines, these lucky souls avoid snarled traffic, jammed subway trains and lousy weather. The tally of federal telecommuters, sent to Congress last week by the Office of Personnel Management, showed an increase from 2003, when 102,921 government employees were counted as working away from the office at least one day a week.”
More Stay on the Job While They Fight Cancer
"At first, Todd Andrews assumed the dull pain in his left forearm came from too much basketball. So he could hardly believe it when doctors told him he had osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, and would need surgery and chemotherapy. But Andrews, an account manager at Karwoski & Courage Public Relations in Minneapolis, wasn't going to let treatment interfere with work. He had a permanent catheter inserted into his chest in order to take chemotherapy. Andrews came to the office every day with his chemotherapy bag slung over his shoulder. Then he would set the bag up at his desk. He worked with it beside him, listening to the soft zoom of the pump as it delivered chemicals through tubes under his shirt. Cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be, and longer survival rates and better ways to manage the side effects of treatment mean more people like Andrews are staying in the workforce during treatment. That's creating challenges for employers.”
Life Begins at 60
"In the space of a single generation, Boomers have fundamentally altered the shape of the adult life cycle. By taking longer to grow up and delaying marriage, parenting and retirement, they have shifted all the stages of adulthood ahead by 10 to 15 years.”
To read the entire article, please go to Research! America’s website and click on “Life Begins at 60” on the right hand side of the page.