I joke that most of the neighborhood teenagers are on my payroll, but it’s almost true. I received referrals from friends, approached them on the street and asked the school teachers for names of responsible students. In a family with two working parents, we need support. I am self-employed, so my childcare needs are less
Cara West and her family moved to Europe in search of a better quality of life. Photo courtesy of Cara West In 2024, Cara West moved from the United States to Greece with her husband and young daughter. The family wanted a better quality of life, more affordability and a greater sense of community. West
Our daughter, now 9 years old, was born in Fort Lauderdale and is growing up here. My family lives a 10-hour flight away in France, while my husband’s family is a six-hour flight away in New Mexico. This means no free babysitting or backup daycare, no matter the situation. We are alone if we want
This essay as told is based on a conversation with Tamara Johnson, 58, who lives in Leesburg, Virginia. Johnson resigned from his corporate leadership position to take care of your husband. Johnson estimates her family has spent more than $700,000 so far caring for her mother and her husband. This interview has been edited for
I didn’t expect that my children growing up would make me think so much about my parents. When my children were young, my wife and I were consumed by the immediate demands of parenthood. There were diapers to change, lunches to prepare, and sleepless nights to survive. The vast majority of my focus was on
My grandmother is a pianist. As often happens, the pendulum swung the other way with my mother, who had no interest in taking piano lessons or forcing her children to do so. I vowed to swing the pendulum the other way with my kids, signing them up for piano lessons even though they showed no