With the rise in life expectancies, medical science advancement, and the increase in the number of people living with chronic and debilitating illnesses, most people find themselves having to care for a loved one or more at home. Being a family caregiver can be quite challenging. Many people find themselves being thrown into this position without proper preparation or training. There are a lot of responsibilities every day. They also have personal needs too. The children that need to be taken care of, the pets must also not be neglected, and yes, you must surely not forget about your friends. Your aging parents also need your help to get on with their daily activities. It looks almost impossible to juggle all these activities together. Well, you can save yourself the stress by teaming up!

Learn and be instinctive

If you find yourself suddenly in the position of a caregiver, ensure you learn all you can about a family member's disability or illness. This will enable you to know how to care for them adequately. Also, learn to trust your gut. This doesn't mean ignoring what the physician says about the condition and how to take care of it; however, remember they don't know your family as well as you do. You must anticipate their other needs too.

Ask other family members for help

Discussion is one of the productive ways you can use to cope with challenges. You can arrange a family meeting to discuss all the different things you have going on in your life. You make your loved ones aware of how your work is going or how stressed you are at home. You will be surprised that some of them will be willing to help you shoulder some of the responsibilities while focusing on more important things.

However, you should be willing to listen to some of their concerns too. A family meeting should involve everyone and their needs. You can all brainstorm together and find out how to help with their schedules too.

Also, remember to keep it all flexible. Every day and every week can never be the same, no matter how much you try to stick to your routine. Be realistic about your time and how much of yourself you are willing to give. If you feel ill one day and unable to carry out your duties, allow someone else to do the job for you. If you have a contagious illness, don't go about spreading it to your loved ones. You will have to stay at home. This means you will have to schedule respite care services sometimes.

Parents’ Involvement

Discuss with your parents about their needs. Ensure they are also willing to maintain their independence and autonomy. Make sure they are not asking for help on what they can do by themselves. Caregiving doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do everything for them. If one of the parents is well and able, they should be able to help out with some of the chores. If you find them intentionally slacking, then you should be firm in insisting they help.

The Use of Online Planning Tools for Scheduling

We are in the internet age. Make proper use of the internet by using tools like Google Calendar to schedule. This will help you in organizing and adequate time management. Involve your family members to view and add entries too. You can fit in your schedule and check out who is available for one task or the other.

You can also check off tasks that have been completed so you would know what's left. You can use these tools to track to-do tasks, meals, medications, and appointments.

Hire Professional Caregivers

It may become necessary to hire professional home care support even with other members of the family helping, the responsibilities are still tasking. You may need to employ professional caregivers from a trusted home care agency to allow everyone take a break. This would afford you the time to socialize with friends, go on a dream vacation and relax. Step away from being family caregivers once in a while. You deserve to be taken care of too.

If you need the services of a home care giver, please contact (904) 458-9000