More women take on dual role as caregiver for children, parents

By Michael King
Post-Crescent staff writer

TOWN OF KAUKAUNA — In fall 2003, when her mother was hospitalized for two weeks with an infection, Shari Nagan faced a decision.


Doctors advised that it was time to move her mom into a nursing home.

Nagan’s answer: “No way.”

Instead, she and her husband, Dan, moved out of their bedroom into a smaller bedroom and took in her |parents, Martin and Evelyn VanSchyndel, now ages 91 and 89, respectively.

Shari Nagan had been watching over the retired farming couple since building a home in 1984 next door on McCabe Road. The decision to bring them under her roof was easy.

“My parents took care of me and I figure I can do the same thing back,” said Nagan, 50, who also homeschools her daughter and tends a four-acre hobby farm. “It’s busy from morning until night, very busy. But, I enjoy it.”

Studies suggest that Nagan’s scenario may be playing out in as many as 10 million U.S. households. She is among an increasing number of mostly women in a so-called sandwich generation, looking after their children as well as their elderly parents.

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