She did not know. She only went along with it. Her mother needed her and that is all she knew. It was time to care, but was it all too soon? Story number 9 from the audiobook “Providing Care & Other Short stories”. I labelled this story “Young Carer”, because I wanted to get straight to the point. What is that point you ask?

The answer is to state that Young Carers exist and in these times they face all sort of challenges. What is a Young carer?

Well a young carer is someone under the age of 18 who looks after a family member or friend who has a physical or mental health condition. This is the story of Jenny a young girl about to finish her primary school. Unlike the carers in the other story, it is not easy for Jenny to reach out for help. Most of the time she just reacts. A lot of her roles focus on guess work and even though recognition of young carers has increased, Jenny still face challenges.

The story starts of with Jenny trying to make sense of her life. She is trying to make sense as to why she is so different from the other children at school. She is quiet about her struggles because she feels guilty and does not want to make anyone else feel guilty. Jenny is lucky to get some support, but is that enough?

As usual the story will be in audio dramatization. I have been experimenting with voices to bring the story to life. With the age of technology, storytelling has changed. Things spring to life and if you are a campaigner or activist then it makes sense to use technology. The story of Jenny can be difficult to listen to as it shows how vulnerable we really are.

We need to raise awareness of young carers or how can we claim this is a caring society? Many carers in my previous stories often had some choices, but when you are young then your choices might be limited. Will keep you posted to how the story develops soon.

To watch my other stories about unpaid carers check my video playlist below.