Working daughters, you know you have the right to have a life, don’t you? The Working Daughter Bill of Rights says so. It also says you have the right to set boundaries — to balance your needs with the needs of the people you care for, to set personal limits and to say no to […]
Part three in our series on caregiving with intention. Recently I discovered the podcast Advice to My Younger Self when host Sara Holtz invited me on the show. The interview got me thinking about. “If I knew then what I know now…” More than the tactical advice I’d share, (like always book the first appointment after lunch with […]
Part two in our series on caregiving with intention. Does the idea of life after caregiving make your insides knot up? Is that because when you read those words your emotions feel like the little metal ball in a pinball machine bouncing from excitement to guilt to relief to sadness? It’s okay to admit all […]
Working Daughter, you are doing the best you can. And you know what? Your best is pretty damn incredible. Caregiving throws us lots of curve balls. There is no perfect day, no perfect way. You can only make the best decisions possible with the information you have on hand. You can only ask for grace […]
Do you know what kind of caregiver you want to be? “Seriously, Liz?! I never wanted to be a caregiver!” I know eldercare isn’t something most of us ever aspired to do. I played with baby dolls as a young girl, imagining I would some day be a mother; I never dreamed of caring for […]
Happy New Year! In 2017 I spoke to so many working daughters who put their own lives on hold to care for their aging parents. It’s a noble move, but a limiting one. To be sure, I know first hand how difficult it is to have a life when you are in the throes of […]
Here are the most clicked, read and shared articles of 2017. In case you missed them or want to revisit a favorite. What To Do When Your Elderly Parent Is Hospitalized What To Do When Your Elderly Parent Is Hospitalized 2. When You Move A Parent To Assisted Living Moving a Parent to Assisted Living: […]
The holidays are here. Are you ready? Fret not, we’ve got you covered with our last minute survival guide. Still shopping? Check out our holiday gift guide with gifts for everyone on your list from aging parents to grandchildren, home health aides and best friends. Feeling kind of blue? It’s okay, and wise, to make […]
Working daughters need to be seen and heard. Too often the work we do, the care we give, is invisible to others. But if ever there was a group of people too busy to do the advocacy work needed to make positive change – to be heard – it’s us. Family caregivers are too busy […]
Sometimes as caregivers, we forget that we have anything to be happy about. Every morning we wake up to face overwhelming to-do lists, scary medical news, and possible end-of-life moments. But we’re waking up, and that’s something to be thankful for! Research shows that taking the time to acknowledge what we are thankful for can […]
In honor of National Family Caregiver’s Month, we’ve asked some special guests to tell us about 24 hours in their life as a working daughter. Today’s post from Rena McDaniel, blogger at The Diary of An Alzheimer’s Caregiver, is third in our series. When I first agreed to write this post I thought I’d write about a so-called “normal” […]
Recently I was talking to a group of working daughters and the conversation, perhaps inevitably, turned to siblings who don’t pull their fair share, or help out at all. “Sounds like we should talk about how to ask for and get the help we need,” I said. Two of the women looked at me, puzzled. […]