Summer is winding down, and that means a lot of schedulechanges for the Sandwich Generation – the generation, typically in theirthirties and forties, who are raising their children while also caring fortheir aging parents. It takes a lot of endurance, compassion and organizationto make your efforts effective and positive for your aging loved ones.
It is possible to balance everything, even asschool restarts and schedules pick up speed. Our three-part series, How theSandwich Generation Does It All (by Not Doing All of It), offers realisticand practical advice if you are caring for your kids and your agingloved ones. These best practices also apply if you are caring for agingparents, without children in the picture.
There are three main pieces to the puzzle: home care,empowerment, and communication. In every one of these categories, you must beready to ask for help. It is understood that asking for help is hard sometimes.Yet, assuming you are asking people with whom you have a relationship, in manycircumstances you’ll be pleasantly surprised. In this introduction, we’resharing brief explanations of each. Parts one through three will expand on howhome care, empowerment, and communication will support your efforts as a “GenSandwich” individual.
First, home care is key, but there are specificcomponents you’ll need from your home care company for success. You’re going toask one key question to start: do you offer Private Services and Medicare?We’ll explain why that is so important.
Next, empowerment is a mighty word that touches on a lotof opportunities for success when it comes to caring for your kids and youraging parents. What can you ask of your kids? What can you ask of your agingparents? It many cases they can contribute in ways that will first surpriseyou, and then make you feel proud and more connected as a family. Finally, whatcan you ask of yourself? Sometimes it’s not about what more you can do,it’s about what you can excuse yourself from doing. Neither you nor anyother one person can do everything. You’re also not going to be able toaltogether avoid mishaps with your kids, or medical needs from your agingparents. This is completely normal and okay, especially when you have areasonable plan in place when these issues arise.
Finally, communication is the foundation of both homecare and empowerment. It connects you to your home care company and to youraging parent. It connects you to your kids. It connects your kids to your agingparents, and it is also how you’ll ask for help from your home care company,your family and close friends. Plan to talk about almost everything,sharing some things with some people and other things with other people.
Now, you know just enough to anticipate the rest of our three-partseries, How the Sandwich Generation Does It All (by Not Doing All of It).If you’re ready to get started with your home care company, call us and we’llanswer that key question (yes, we provide both Private and Medicare services)and more.