The Big Squeeze: Balancing the Needs of Aging Parents, Dependent Children, and You

by Barbara A. Shapiro

Your mother has a weekly doctor's appointment and depends on you to get her there. Your spouse, dissatisfied at work, brings all his troubles home. Your boss has given you a job to do and wants it done now. Your children want dinner, want a ride, want help with their homework. Welcome to THE BIG SQUEEZE....
Today two-income families are the norm, childbearing is often postponed into the thirties and forties, longevity is on the increase. The family circle can sometimes seem like a trap. You are in the middle, and the physical, emotional, and financial stresses can be overwhelming. Now, here's a compassionate, commonsense approach to avoiding the Big Squeeze. Offering practical solutions to specific crises, this unique and remarkably simple 8-STEP PROGRAM can help you:
Set your priorities and reduce your pressures
Balance your family's needs with your own
Communicate openly and delegate responsibilities among family members
Discover all the community resources that you and your family have
And much more!
"A PRACTICAL AND SENSITIVE GAME PLAN...Written in layman's language, without intimidating or wearisome professional jargon."
--West Hartford News

228 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

AKA B.A. Shapiro and Barbara Shapiro.

I am the author of six novels (The Art Forger, The Safe Room, Blind Spot, See No Evil, Blameless and Shattered Echoes), four screenplays (Blind Spot, The Lost Coven, Borderline and Shattered Echoes) and the non-fiction book, The Big Squeeze. In my previous career incarnations, I have directed research projects for a residential substance abuse facility, worked as a systems analyst/statistician, headed the Boston office of a software development firm, and served as an adjunct professor teaching sociology at Tufts University and creative writing at Northeastern University. I like being a novelist the best.

I began my writing career when I quit my high-pressure job after the birth of my second child. Nervous about what to do next, I said to my mother, "If I'm not playing at being superwoman anymore, I don't know who I am." My mother answered with the question: "If you had one year to live, how would you want to spend it?" The answer: write a novel and spend more time with my children. And that's exactly what I did. Smart mother.

After writing six novels and raising my children, I now live in Boston with my husband Dan and my dog Sagan. And yes, I'm working on yet another novel but have no plans to raise any more children.