May 7, 2012

Radio show reveals successes, struggles of today's multigenerational families

I urge you not to miss "Family Matters," the timely and highly informative series now airing on National Public Radio. (If you're reading this after the series has aired, you can still listen to the shows or read the transcripts on the NPR archives.)

The show profiles today's multigenerational families, where a typical day involves working, caring for an aging family member, raising youngsters, financing teens' college educations, working, and maybe even trying to sock away funds for your own retirement. 

Take the Hawkins family, for example. The NPR website says of them: 

"LaDonna Martin, 40, and Kelley Hawkins, 46, joined forces to take care of Kelley's grandmotherAnnaBelle Bowers. The two sisters-in-law, both nurses, live minutes from each other in the Harrisburg, Pa., suburbs. Two years ago they decided that AnnaBelle, now 87, needed to live with them, since she couldn't take care of herself anymore. She now rotates from one home to the other. LaDonna and her husband, David, a state police officer, have two children: Lauren 12; and Christopher, 14. LaDonna says that having AnnaBelle at home has made their children kinder and less self-centered. But taking care of AnnaBelle, who is barely mobile, has been stressful. Kelley and her husband, Scott, an insurance claims adjuster, are also paying their older daughterChelsea's college costs, and they're getting ready to send their second daughter, Carley, to an expensive college this fall."

The series offers up some good legal and financial advice, too. Here's the link to the series:  http://www.npr.org/series/150002308/family-matters.

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