Supporting young carers — what we can do for them

Hello, this is Yoshii from the Young Carers Association.
Today I’d like to share some of my personal thoughts on supporting young carers.

The other day, a high school student asked me this question:

“If I feel that someone close to me or a friend might be a young carer, how should I treat them?”

At first glance this seems like a difficult question, but the answer is actually very simple.
I answered the student with a question of my own:

“There’s someone I like. How should I approach them?”

Getting such a seemingly random question back, they must have wondered whether I’d been listening at all. 🙂

But don’t worry — the two questions look completely different, yet they are essentially the same.

I continued:
“Which of these would be the best way to approach the person I like?
1. Take them to an expensive restaurant and give them a luxury handbag.
2. Go see an action movie together.
3. Drive along the coast, then take them somewhere with a beautiful night view.
4. Give them ordinary cheap sweets as a present.
5. Go to a casual, old-fashioned izakaya.

The student replied:
“That would depend on the person’s tastes — and on your relationship with them.”

Exactly right.
I believe that how we treat young carers works exactly the same way.

When you hear the still-unfamiliar term “young carer,”
it may sound as though all young carers are similar people.
Of course, experiencing care at a young age creates many things in common.
But in reality, they have even more differences — each is an individual.

Suppose the people I might fall in love with are women.
When you hear “women,” you immediately understand that every woman is different,
and that there is no single approach that works for all of them.

“Young carers” are the same: there is no magic phrase that works for every young carer.
“Young carer” is merely one way of categorizing people (just like “women” or “men”),
and what matters is to genuinely engage with the individual human being behind the category.

That was a long detour — back to the question.
“If I feel that someone close to me or a friend might be a young carer, how should I treat them?”

My answer is this:
“Engage sincerely with that person you feel might be a young carer.
As one human being: what brings them joy, and what brings them sadness?
What could you do that would make them happy? What might hurt them?
Of course, reading up on young carers is a good thing.
But what’s written there is inevitably general —
it won’t perfectly match the person in front of you.
You know the person in front of you far better than we do, so you’ll be fine.
Have confidence. You don’t need qualifications or specialist knowledge.
Actions taken out of genuine care for that person will not hurt them.
So take courage, and reach out your hand.”

What each of us can do for young carers —
we’d love to hear your thoughts, too.