It is always a very loving and considerate choice when someone decides to act as a caregiver for an elderly parent or grandparent. There is no hard and fast rule that says you must do this, and there’s often no reward other than the fact that you are helping somebody that you love to have a better life. Being a family caregiver is not easy ever, and it is a very time intensive job with very little payoff. But before you decide that being a family caregiver is the best thing for you to do, make sure that you know what you are going to be doing, and make sure you know what your other options are, too.
Being a caregiver to a parent is very similar to raising a family. It can be very demanding on you both physically and emotionally. More than 20 million people provide unpaid care to a parent or a parent in law, and more than 20 million others provide unpaid care to someone else in their family. It can be very easy to believe that you are done being the caregiver in your family after your children are old enough to take care of themselves, but as we have noticed, this sometimes just sets the stage for a new type of caregiving to begin. Some people are ready for this new responsibility, but many more are not. Being a caregiver to a parent can be a huge emotional burden, and if this is not something that you are ready to take on, having professional help with an in-home care service can assist you in getting started.
Caregiving can also be expensive. An informal survey found that almost half of family caregivers spend at least $5,000 of their own cash on caregiving expenses. Not everyone has this kind of money available, and not everyone that spends this much needs to do so, even if it isn’t a lot of money to them respectively. However, it’s important to know that this risk when it comes to expenses does exist so that you can be better prepared for it. Another survey indicated that 1 out of 5 family caregivers were under financial strain because of their caregiving. In some families, this can be accomplished with much less than $5,000.
The most important thing to remember when you begin caring for an older loved one is that you are not in this by yourself, not if you don’t want to be. You have resources available to you, and part of being a great family caregiver is knowing when to call upon those resources. Sometimes being a caregiver can be too much, and if you aren’t able to recognize this, then your loved one ends up not getting the assistance and attention that they deserve. No one wants to have this happen to them–you love your mom or dad, after all–but we are all human and need a break every now and then if we want to stay at the top when it comes to the quality of care that we provide.
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