What happens when kids become caregivers?

When it comes to childhood and young adulthood, most people in the U.S. think of carefree times of life with few major responsibilities. But for a small subset of young people, these years also mean caring for loved ones. Harvard medical students Kimia Heydari and Romila Santra both have firsthand experience being young caregivers, and they wrote about this often overlooked group in their First Opinion essay “Caring for young caregivers, a hidden population.”

Heydari and Santra spoke with “First Opinion Podcast” host Pat Skerrett about the unique challenges of taking care of family members at ages when few of their peers had similar experiences. “That no real social structure recognizes formally this experience was really striking for me,” said Heydari, who helped care for her grandmother with Alzheimer’s.

This can be particularly challenging for students who must often balance the schedules and demands of work and school with their responsibilities at home. Heydari and Santra suggest how schools, the medical system, and society at large can make small changes to better support young caregivers.

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