The Millennial Sandwich

The Millennial Sandwich
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Parenting

The Millennial Sandwich is a podcast for the generation raising kids while watching their parents age. Hosted by geriatrician Dr. Anita Chandra and parenting journalist Zara Hanawalt, it explores what it means to be part of the sandwich generation: caring for aging parents, navigating motherhood, and trying to make room for your own life, too. Through honest conversations with experts and people living it, we talk about caregiving, family, friendship, and the questions no one prepared us to answer. For the generation holding it all together.

  1. Aug 26

    Is This a Podcast or a Therapy Session? Our Season 1 Recap & Finale

    Season 1 of The Millennial Sandwich is officially wrapped!  From the first episode we recorded (which, spoiler alert, has still never been released) to this season 1 recap, we've learned so much, felt so seen, and found ourselves asking..."is this a podcast or a therapy session" over and over again. In this episode, we talk about what we took away from our first season, what you can expect from us down the line, and what we hope to deliver in our second season. But most of all, we just...talk.  We get into: -Why millennials need to be called out for their nostalgia obsession -How tradwife/girlboss binaries don't serve anyone -Why "working mom" isn't an accurate or inclusive label -The guests and episodes that surprised us most -Why it's Taylor Swift's world (we're just living in it) What do you want to hear more of next season? Leave us a voice note! https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  2. Aug 19

    The Most Surprising Stat About the Sandwich Generation with Care.com's Naaz Nichols

    Naaz Nichols is Care.com's Chief Customer Experience Officer. She's also a sandwich generation caregiver — and that lived experience gives her the tools to fully understand what other caregivers truly need. In this episode, Naaz joins us to share the details of Care.com's first ever Sandwich Generation Report. She shares a statistic that may shock you. Naaz also gets deeply personal about her own experiences with sandwich generation caregiving. We discuss: How real-life caregiving makes you better at your job (even if your job doesn't involve serving caregivers)What it's really like to parent and care for aging parents under one roofWhy Naaz took a career pause (and came back to the workforce with an even richer professional perspective)How perfectionism isn't sustainable for sandwich generation caregiversWhat it really feels like to navigate the medical system as your parents ageTopics covered: Caregiving, career, career pause, Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's disease, care policy, caregiver burnout Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  3. Aug 12

    How to Notice Your Parents' Signs of Aging Before There's a Crisis

    If you're a millennial, there's a good chance you've noticed some changes in how your parents function. Maybe they're moving differently, or they're repeating themselves more, or they're simply just...not as confident as they used to be. But if you're in the sandwich generation, noticing those changes in how your parents behave is especially complicated — because while you want to stay on top of those changes, you're so busy raising your kids, you barely have time to consider what they could mean.  Co-host Dr. Anita Chandra, a geriatrician and expert in aging weighs in on  -Those signs of aging and what people can do when they notice them -The difference between normal aging and a sign something may be amiss -Why we need to change our cultural perceptions of "old people" -What it truly means to "age well" -What our cultural obsession with independence is really doing to older adults -How adult children can care for their parents from a distance Topics covered:  Aging, longevity, The Golden Bachelor, midlife, middle age, millennials, baby boomers, the sandwich generation, caregiving, long-distance caregiving Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  4. Aug 5

    The Myth of 'Doing it All' with Multi-Hyphenate Hitha Palepu

    Personally and professionally, Hitha Palepu wears a lot of hats. She's a mother of boys (but not a boy mom), a daughter of immigrants, and only child, a pharma CEO, a content creator, an author, a speaker...and that's not even an exhuastive list. It's easy to look at someone like Hitha and wonder how she does it all. But here's the thing: She doesn't.  Hitha talks us through how she makes her multi-hyphanted life work...and also, what she doesn't do. Because doing a lot is not the same as doing it all. We discuss: -The pressures daughters of immigrants face -The systems that help her streamline her personal and professional commitments -Why taking care of herself is so important -How watching reality TV is cultural anthropology Topics covered: Aging parents, caregiving, sandwich generation, motherhood, reality TV, Love Island, boy mom culture, immigrant parents, south asian daughters Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  5. Jul 29

    Why is Everyone Still Treating Care Like it's Worthless? with Elissa Strauss

    Care work has value, economically and beyond — yet both our systems and our culture refuse to acknowledge this.  Nobody understands this deep devaluation better than Elissa Strauss, who (literally) wrote the book (When You Care) on the true value of care.  In this episode, Elissa, Anita & Zara discuss: The longheld idea that motherhood shouldn't "take over" your identityThe interdependency of policy and culture where caregiving is concernedThe biggest misconceptions people have about care workOur cultural obsession with independence and preservation of youthThe caregiving secrets many of us keepHow tradwife and girlboss narratives fail caregiversTopics covered: Caregiving, care work, dementia care, motherhood, economic value of care, gender, feminism, wage gap Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  6. Jul 22

    What Will the Midlife Crisis Look Like for Millennial Women?

    Millennials are preparing for their midlife era...and it's bringing up a lot of questions.  For example... Does every generation feel this way at this age?Why do we feel so much younger *and* so much older than we actually are?What do I actually want to be when I grow up?I've done all the things I set out to do. Now what?And, perhaps most importantly...do women even get to have a midlife crisis?Anita and Zara are getting into all of it...and exploring the wild identity shift that comes when you're 40-ish. Women in midlife are almost always denied main character treatment, but we're here to change that.  Caregiving (for both our kids and our parents) complicates our ability to fall apart in midlife. We don't really have a roadmap for what a midlife crisis actually looks like in a woman, but we're setting the stage for what may come. Key topics: Millennial midlife, middle aged millennials, pop culture, gender, marriage, aging, beauty, career, success, ambition Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  7. Jul 15

    Young Caregiving & Alzheimer's with Jessica C. Guthrie

    Jessica C. Guthrie was your typical ambitious millennial. She had it all figured out: The big dreams, the Ivy League education, the clear path to the top. And then, when Jessica was 26, her mom's Alzheimer's Disease diagnosis changed the plan. In this episode, Jessica, a caregiving advocate and consultant, joins Anita and Zara to talk about the realities of being a young caregiver.   They cover: How Jessica realized it was time to go from long-distance caregiver to in-person caregiverWhat the medical community ought to understand about patient and caregiver experiencesThe effect becoming a caregiver has had on her friendshipsWhat it's truly like to be a woman of color in the caregiving communityHow her mother's constant presence shaped the way Jessica caresChapters 00:00 Introduction to Jessica Guthrie's caregiving journey 01:03 Jessica's background and her mother's diagnosis 03:01 Evolving caregiving roles and routines 05:26 Physical dependence and hands-on care 07:50 Misconceptions about dementia progression 08:33 Clues and tools for long-distance caregiving 11:51 Advocating for diagnosis and early intervention 13:45 Communication and trust with healthcare providers 17:09 Reevaluating life goals and caregiving impact 20:16 The power of presence and relationship 22:49 Navigating racial disparities in healthcare 26:34 The importance of community and support networks 30:03 Language, culture, and underrepresentation in caregiving 34:21 Addressing stigma and biases in dementia care 37:45 What doctors often overlook in dementia diagnosis 43:22 The need for diverse voices in healthcare conversations 45:12 Stories of bias and misdiagnosis 48:49 Advice for caregivers and self-care tips 54:54 The importance of community affirmations 55:31 Millennial caregiving survival tips 56:39 Jessica's message of hope and community support Topics covered: Caregiving, Alzheimer's, mental health, caregiving tips, Black caregivers, family support, dementia, long-distance caregiving, caregiver advocacy Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

  8. Jul 8

    Anxiety, Avoidance & Anticipatory Grief with Claire Bidwell Smith

    Grief doesn't always follow the five stages that have become a fixture in cultural conversations about loss. The reality? Grief can show up in a costume...and it doesn't always begin when someone dies. Claire Bidwell Smith, therapist, author, and grief expert joins Anita and Zara for a conversation about the elements of grief we rarely discuss. It's a perspective-shifting conversation that may help you recognize surprising ways grief has presented in your own life. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Grief and Loss 02:54 The Shift in Grief Conversations 05:45 The Loneliness of Grief 08:34 Grief and Anxiety Connection 11:18 Navigating Grief as a Parent 14:00 Understanding Anticipatory Grief 16:46 The Impact of Grief on Millennials 19:40 Coping Strategies for Grief 22:30 Anticipatory Grief in Daily Life 25:16 Emotional Distance and Grief 28:35 Navigating Anticipatory Grief 31:43 Understanding Grief Beyond Loss 36:09 The Impact of Grief on Relationships 39:46 The Individual Nature of Grief 44:38 Finding Positivity in Grief 50:28 Coping as an Only Child 51:34 Self-Compassion in the Sandwich Generation Topics covered: Grief, anticipatory grief, losing a parent, grieving as a child, supporting a grieving child, grief community, grief influencers, grief coach, aging parents Send us Fan Mail Thanks for listening to The Millennial Sandwich! Don't forget to follow, subscribe and connect with us on social media  Leave us a voice note! We'd love to hear from you: https://www.speakpipe.com/themillennialsandwich

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5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

The Millennial Sandwich is a podcast for the generation raising kids while watching their parents age. Hosted by geriatrician Dr. Anita Chandra and parenting journalist Zara Hanawalt, it explores what it means to be part of the sandwich generation: caring for aging parents, navigating motherhood, and trying to make room for your own life, too. Through honest conversations with experts and people living it, we talk about caregiving, family, friendship, and the questions no one prepared us to answer. For the generation holding it all together.

Information

  • Creator
    The Millennial Sandwich
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Millennial Sandwich
  • Show Website
    The Millennial Sandwich

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