Richard BitnerCaregiving Paradox of Quality Time with Mom or Dad
More Americans than ever before now act as family caregivers for their aging parents. At least 35 million people are expected to provide unpaid care to someone over the age of 50 in 2017. This workload falls hardest on adult children who are tasked caring for their moms and their dads. Caregiving Paradox of Quality Time with Mom or Dad Because caregiving means more time with mom or dad, many family caregivers believe that it also means more quality time with mom or dad. Unfortunately, more time doesn’t equal more quality time when you’re a family caregiver. Instead, acting as a
Continue readingHow Denial About Decline Compromises Senior Care
Elderly decline is a natural, if unfortunate, part of life. Decline in physical and cognitive function is an inevitable part of growing older, making day-to-day life increasingly difficult for seniors. Come a certain point, decline makes it unsafe for seniors to continue living without the support of senior care, either from family caregivers or a senior care agency. How Denial About Decline Compromises Senior Care Decline often goes hand-in-hand with denial. Elderly decline is stressful on seniors and their family members, and many people use denial as a coping mechanism. But denial about elderly decline and the need for senior care
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Kathy MacaraegJuggling Caregiving in the Sandwich Generation
One of the most challenging caregiving issues – outside of the actual caregiving tasks – is finding a way to balance caring for your elderly parent’s needs with your immediate family’s needs, particularly if you have children in the home. Parenting and caregiving are both physically, emotionally and financially draining endeavors with big rewards. Juggling Caregiving in the Sandwich Generation You’ve heard the term “sandwich generation,” but the full impact of that role is difficult to imagine until you are living it. Your mother needs groceries but your child is home sick from school, or your mother took a fall
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Kendall VanBlarcomWhen You Should Compromise
Compromising can be a difficult thing to do with people. While it’s a great way to make two people happy about a situation, it doesn’t always work out that way. That’s because there are some situations in which you shouldn’t compromise. Knowing when you should compromise will help you save time and energy. When You Should Compromise What It Means to Compromise You probably know what it means to compromise. When two people do not agree on something, each person decides to do a little of what the other person wants, and the other person does the same. That way not
Continue readingDownsizing A Home Full of Memories
Helping Your Aging Parent Downsize When someone lives in their home for several decades, chances are, the home is jam-packed with a lifetime of memories and stuff. As our parents age, they may need to downsize their belongings in anticipation of moving in with family, an assisted living facility, or even to a new condo in a fun retirement community. It can be overwhelming to find the right place to start when it comes time to downsize. If your parents are like mine, everything has meaning. My mom still has things from when she was my Girl Scout leader! If
Continue readingMoving An Elderly Parent Closer to Your Home
Setting Up a Multi-Generational Household Isn’t Just About Moving Furniture A sudden fall or illness can make a family rethink their living situation. If an aging parent has been living well independently for years, a sudden health crisis can bring up a big decision for a family. Do you move a formerly independent parent in with you to better care for them? Moving An Elderly Parent Closer to Your Home Most families decide to move their mom or dad in with them as soon as possible. It is easier to move a parent to you than to move your family to
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Guest BloggerAging Parents: Plan for All Seasons
Plan now for where your elders will live as they age. Get their vision for what they want to happen if they need care or accommodations for an illness. Having a plan is the key. It reduces the stress, eases the frustration and makes caregiving easier for all involved. I’ve boiled it down to 3 steps. Do your elders want to live at their own home as long as they can? Do they have a vision for where they’ll want to be if the time comes when they need care? Does each family member have a role? First – talk
Continue readingTaking Care of Elderly Parents
There comes a time in many people’s lives in which they need to start taking care of elderly parents. For some people, that means setting up services that will come to their parent’s home. For others, it means making changes to the schedule to be available to care for them. If you’re faced with this situation right now, consider these tips to make the situation much easier to handle. Taking Care of Elderly Parents Tips for Taking Care of Elderly Parents #1: Learn About Your Parent’s Needs Before you’re able to care for your parent, you’ll need to know his/her needs.
Continue readingCaregiving Shortcuts to Make Life Easier
Caregivers lead busy lives. Many are part of the sandwich generation, meaning they are providing care for both their own children and an elderly relative and 60% of caregivers are employed full-time. Caregiving Shortcuts to Make Life Easier Keeping up with caregiving responsibilities and the tasks can be overwhelming. How does one person manage the cooking, cleaning, laundry and care for two households, while providing care well? The answer is, one person doesn’t. It takes a village. Caregiving Shortcuts to Make Life Easier 1. Meals Caregiving Shortcuts to Make Life Easier Preparing meals for two households can be a challenge. I find
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