By definition, a sandwich generation caregiver is a person who is caring for a parent or other older family member while also caring for children who still live at home. If you are a family caregiver, you may be looking for a way to take care of yourself, your children and your dad’s care needs as well. Here are a few tips and how companion care at home can help.
Create Lists
Organization can help you on busier days. Learn to prioritize what needs to be done and push the other tasks aside until you have more time. Showers may not be needed every day, but his medications are essential. Focus on the things that have to be done.
Cleaning tasks like wiping down counters and doing the dishes should be completed each day. Vacuuming is fine to push to once a week. Build your different lists of daily, weekly, and monthly tasks and get others to refer to them if they have time to help. Putting these lists in the cloud, such as on Google Drive, makes them easy for others to access.
The Problems With Trying to Do It All
Caregiver burnout is a condition where you spend so much time helping others that you grow tired of it. Excessive stress can lead you to feel too tired to care. It can worsen into clinical depression if you don’t take steps to change things.
Make sure you surround yourself with support. A caregiver support group is a great place to start. You should also ask friends and family to help out with your dad’s care needs. They could help out by picking up his grocery order or take him out for lunch while you have a break.
Don’t Overlook the Benefits of Respite Care
Self-care must be a priority. Don’t focus so much on your dad’s care needs that you ignore your own.
Before you worry about leaving him alone, remember that there are ways to ensure you have time away while he’s cared for by a companion care aide. It’s a service called respite care, and it’s a tool every sandwich generation caregiver needs to embrace.
Companion Care at Home Provides You With a Break
Companion care at home helps your dad with meals, housework, laundry, and transportation. He also has a friend to join him on outings or around the house. When you arrange respite care services to cover your dad’s companionship needs, you’re both happy.
You shouldn’t be the only person your dad sees all week. Arrange companion care at home services to ensure he has someone else to spend time with. This enables you with time off to focus on your spouse or significant other, children, friends, or anyone else you haven’t had time for due to your dad’s needs.
If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Littleton, CO, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY Home Care of Parker. 303-953-9924
