Children as Caregivers

For people who have the latent potential to adapt to a situation, challenges can be metamorphic. But challenges in an area where someone doesn't have that capacity can be damaging or even fatal.

Me, I had some experiences growing up that other people think were horrible. Where I live, we're low-priority for repairs so sometimes the power or some other vital service would be out for days. When I was a toddler we raised chickens, and at butchering time, I gutted the chickens because I had the smallest hands. For me, these experiences conveniently tapped into memories of other lives and revived skills and perceptions that I find to be very useful. But some people freak out if basic services go down or they're presented with anything other than ready-to-eat food. I've seen most of a roomful of adults nearly paralyzed by facing a (completely cleaned, whole) lamb carcass that needed to be reduced to pieces that would fit into a stove.

So, some people can adapt to a caregiver situation, even if it falls on them quite young, and benefit from it by ramping up skills to an impressive level. Others are just crushed or killed by that environment. That's actually true for adults as well as children, but at least adults usually have some legal options for escape if they choose to use those. Children usually don't, and some are afraid of losing their family (justifiably, since it's more likely for children to be put into care than for care to be provided for the ailing family member).

My guiding principles are that nobody should be forced into things, and don't use a screwdriver to pound nails. Adequate care should be provided by properly trained adults; and if younger family members want to help, there's never a shortage of things that need doing.