‘We Are So F-ed Up’: Caring For A Complicated Parent

Mar 3, 2025

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When Caroline Baum and her mother Judith walked into family therapy, Caroline’s first thought was: 'We are going to eat you for breakfast… we are so fucked up…'

After all, they had a lot to discuss. At 90 years old, Judith had recently invited herself to come and live with Caroline and her husband and... it wasn't going well.

Caroline is a writer, speaker and broadcaster. She has written about the complexities of caring for her mother and trying to navigate the aged care system. And that essay, linked below, was going to form the basis of this conversation. But as you'll hear, there's so much more to discuss.

Caroline's story is both highly specific and deeply universal - speaking to the perplexing and often contradictory realities of what it means to care for our parents in their elder years, and how not all narratives are neat and tidy ones of gratitude returned. In fact, some of them end up in therapy.

You can follow Caroline Baum here

You can listen to Caroline’s podcast about the art of the biography, Life Sentences, here.

And you can read the essay that inspired this conversation, here.

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CREDITS:

Host: Holly Wainwright

Executive Producer: Naima Brown

Senior Producer: Grace Rouvray

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

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