When a Child Is the Only Caregiver

“I was expecting it to smell bad, but it smelled genuinely like rotting flesh.” Despite the pungent aroma, crowds are expected to continue as people hope for a peek at the flower, which blooms unpredictably following years of dormancy. 

The bloom’s “impermanence” is what inspired junior Namuuna Negi to visit. “People like to be in on what’s happening,” she said. “If they hear something’s going to die soon, they want to go see it before that happens so they can talk about it later.”

Medicaid cuts could force more children into caregiving and hurt their mental health

When we hear the term caregiving, our imaginations conjure the image of a harried middle-aged adult juggling the chaos of a household — job, spouse, kids, packed social calendars — while caring for an elderly parent. But that describes nothing of journalist Lisa McCarty’s experience. Years ago, when she was just 13 years old, she became her mother’s caregiver. 

That year, her mother suffered a traumatic brain injury at work. She was so incapacitated that McCarty had to become her caregiver. “No one came to help us; there was no support system in place, and it all fell on me,” she writes in Time. “Over the next several years, I helped her to function with daily tasks like standing, walking, dressing, eating, managing doctor’s appointments, and even paying the bills.” 

Although McCarty and her mother were alone, she was far from the only child burdened with a caregiving responsibility. Today, more than 5.4 million American children, especially girls, are involved in caring for chronically ill and disabled family members, according to The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Like McCarty, they have little to no support. 

Despite a documented mental health crisis among children and adolescents, Republican lawmakers in Congress are pursuing massive federal spending cuts, including to critical areas like health care. President Trump’s package of spending cuts and tax breaks, signed into law last July, will strip Medicaid health coverage from roughly 11.8 million Americans when reductions take effect this October. 

Among those losing coverage are nearly 4.3 million people relying on Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services — which funds in-home nursing care and daily living support for people who cannot care for themselves. Last month, GOP legislators proposed $200 billion more in cuts in health care and other areas to fund the war in Iran. By lowering healthcare access, both measures effectively reassign the work of care to whoever is left at home.

For millions of families, that person is a child. And as research shows, they don’t fare well. 

Mirroring McCarty’s experience, children forced into caregiving face higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance use disorders and suicidal ideation than their peers. Recovering from the mental stress of caregiving can take years. Rimbatara “Neo” Neomardhika, a 16-year-old caregiver for his father, worries about what lies ahead for both of them. 

“Sometimes I get anxious and worry about what the future is going to be like,” Neo told McCarty. “I find myself losing focus and losing sleep because I’m worried about what’s going to happen to him. It’s hard to take care of someone as a child.” 

Some support does exist these days, but it’s not very robust. The American Association of Caregiving Youth provides resources for young caregivers in certain states, though McCarty describes the infrastructure as limited and uneven. Professor Saul Becker, a UK-based researcher who studies young carers and helped shape laws protecting them in the UK, argues that something more fundamental would help: a cultural and political belief that these children matter. Where the nation places its money makes its priorities clear. 

“The U.S. needs to have an ideological and cultural belief that children are important,” Becker said. A nation that claims to prioritize children, as Trump has, must see all of them — including the ones holding families together behind closed doors. 

In other news…

How to achieve happiness: James Clear wrote about the power of tiny changes to cause long-term success in his mega-hit book “Atomic Habits.” Now, eight years since its release, more research affirms the idea that incremental shifts help changes stick — even if you’re seeking happiness. Noticing or inviting micro-joys or small, everyday pleasures (word to Ross Gay on Inciting Joy) can meaningfully improve well-being, reduce stress, and even benefit physical health, BBC Science Focus reports. This goes for pessimists too: researchers say the brain is malleable enough that even people perpetually prepared for the worst can notice and hold on to small positive moments. You don’t even have to be an optimist to start — you just have to be willing to pay attention.

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Spring cleaning is good for you, science says: Psychologists confirm that clutter does more than crowd our spaces: it quietly erodes mood, relationships and overall life satisfaction, The Washington Post reports. A 2016 study linked more clutter to lower life satisfaction, while a separate study found that women who described their homes as cluttered were more likely to feel depressed and stressed. Conversely, 2022 research found that people experienced more positive emotions after decluttering, even when they were averse to doing it.

Experts say the key is tackling mess bit by bit. Resist the urge to overhaul everything at once. Remember that spring cleaning “can be very cognitively overwhelming,” psychology professor Sarah Butler said. Besides finding the time and resources to do it, we genuinely have a hard time letting go of things. Starting in a small, specific area builds the momentum needed to keep going.

Other research-backed strategies include taking breaks between completed tasks rather than powering through one long session and photographing your progress to counter the brain’s tendency to overlook gradual visual improvement. Enlisting a friend can also help with decision-making and conversation.