Family Caregiver

  • Can mom pay me to be her caregiver?

    Possibly, depending on your situation. It is perfectly legal for your mother to pay you for getting care she would otherwise have to pay someone else to provide if you didn’t.

    18 Comments
  • Forgiving Your Parent for How They Treated You in the Past

    How do caregivers who were neglected or abused find it in themselves to forget the past, and care for their elderly family member?

    135 Comments
  • Handling Sibling Criticism During the Holidays

    Sometimes family members come to holiday get-togethers bearing more than just gifts. Learn how to keep the peace and avoid family drama with siblings this year.

    86 Comments
  • 10 Secrets Elderly Parents Keep from Their Families

    Older adults often conceal or downplay things like falls, money troubles, elder abuse and car accidents so they can continue living independently. Most family members only learn of these longstanding issues once they're too severe to hide.

    13 Comments
  • Celebrities are Caregivers Too

    Television personality Leeza Gibbons shares her family’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

    2 Comments
  • Male Family Caregivers: Growing in Number and in Needs

    The prevalence of male caregivers has increased significantly in the last decade, yet the amount of support available for them is considerably less than that for female caregivers.

    7 Comments
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  • My elderly mother tries to control my life like I'm still a teenager. What can I do?

    You need the "Jacqueline Marcell emotional shield." Put it on every day, and then don't let anything she says bother you; all negativity has to bounce right off.

    43 Comments
  • How can I show my appreciation to my sister who cares for Mom full time?

    Ohhh, how I wish I’d had a caring sister like you! First, realize that family caregivers often endure prolonged stress that can compromise their physical and mental health... Click to read Jacqueline's full answer.

    5 Comments
  • How I Got My Passive Sibling to Help Me Care for Our Parents

    Getting uninvolved siblings to help you care for your aging parents can be one of the most frustrating aspects of caregiving. Instead of letting anger get the best of you, try to change your perspective and get creative with how you ask for assistance.

    13 Comments
  • Dementia in Women: How Is It Different?

    Dementia is more common in women due to risk factors like longer life expectancy, hormones, depressive conditions, and caregiving.

    0 Comments
  • How to Cope With Shadowing Behavior in Dementia Patients

    In Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, clinging and following behavior is often referred to as “shadowing.” Learn how to prevent this exhausting symptom from interfering with your caregiving tasks and precious respite time.

    4 Comments
  • Veteran-Directed Care Program Supports Living at Home

    The VDC program gives veterans who wish to avoid nursing home placement a budget for long-term care and control over the home and community based services they use—including paying family members to be caregivers.

    0 Comments
  • 10 Essential Podcasts for Family Caregivers

    Most people become caregivers with little to no knowledge of or firsthand experience with the complexities of this role. Books and articles are excellent sources of information, but there’s another valuable resource that is often overlooked: podcasts.

    4 Comments
  • Am I Ready for This? Attending a Caregiver Support Group

    Family caregivers face difficult emotional and logistical challenges while caring for aging and ill loved ones. You’ve probably heard the suggestion to seek out a caregiver support group, but what exactly does that entail and is it a good fit for you?

    2 Comments
  • Dementia and Incontinence: 10 Tips for Caregivers

    Occasional incontinence events or “accidents” commonly progress into chronic incontinence issues during the middle to late stages of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

    1 Comment
  • Caregiver Tips: Getting a Senior to Wash Their Hands

    Regular hand-washing is a crucial part of infection control, but seniors’ personal hygiene habits often decline with age. Family caregivers share their tips and tricks for getting aging loved ones to practice good hand hygiene.

    5 Comments
  • Long-Distance Medical Transport: Relocating a Frail Senior

    As care needs increase, many long-distance caregivers decide that their elders would receive better care if they lived closer. The best option for moving seniors who can't handle car trips or air travel is to use a non-emergency medical transport service.

    1 Comment
  • Common Caregiving Abbreviations and Acronyms

    A list of both professional and colloquial abbreviations commonly used in the Caregiver Forum on AgingCare for medical, long term care, and senior housing terms.

    8 Comments
  • A Rest Home Sleepover

    We may eventually have to consider transitioning our loved ones to independent or assisted living, nursing care, or even memory care. Of course, many of us have visited these places, but do we truly know what living there is like?

    1 Comment
  • Behavior Changes and the Progression of Dementia

    As a dementia caregiver, I see Mum fading in and out of reality, sometimes recognizing the severity of her illness and other times not even realizing something is wrong. All I can do is go through the motions with her.

    5 Comments
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