Love, patience, and organization are the things family caregivers say really help them with their daily routines. For many, love for a parent comes easy. Patience may be a little harder to maintain from day to day. Organization is the thing that you should focus on most when you're first starting out.
Why Organize?
So much needs to get done. If you have your own household to manage, you have double the homes to clean, maintain, and make sure bills are paid on time. It's also common for today's sandwich generation of family caregivers to still have children in school and jobs outside the home to bring in the necessary income. Balancing all of that is hard.
With organization, you're not wasting time. You'll know what needs to get done and have a checklist to use to make sure the important activities of daily living are done. It also helps others who step in to provide care in your absence.
Where Do You Start?
The best place to start is by creating your daily to-do list. Different days will have different tasks. If you have a computer, Google Calendar is one way to track things. Use one color for the care your parent needs and another color for your own home and children. If you're also tracking deadlines at work, add a third color.
Make sure you think of every task. Some you'd only do once a month or once a year. Others might be done multiple times a day. You can print this calendar, access it from your phone, and share with others. Set reminders to ensure you don't overlook anything important.
Make Sure You Have Support
Once you have the list, see where you're needed in two places at once. These are the times when you should find others to help you. If your children must be picked up at 3 p.m., but your mom has a dentist appointment at 3, you can't be in both places. Work with close friends and family members to see if anyone can help out when you can't be two places at once.
When all else fails, use home care services to cover you. Home care services providers will come to your mom or dad's house when you have to be somewhere else. Home care services aides can also fill in so that you can take a break. If your child has a game, hire home care services and be there to watch. Call for our services now.
Learn More About In-Home Health Care & Nursing
Wherever their home may be, our caregivers can help keep your loved ones safe. Call our local Toronto office at (647) 793-2525 to learn how home care services can assist your family.