Caregiving for Aging Parents: When Only One Sibling Steps Up to the Plate.

Tips for siblings caring for aging parents. 

Guest Post contributed by Edward Francis and Foresthc.com 

With the aging population today, more and more parents end up needing help from their children as they get older. This switch from the earlier life roles can be difficult for both parties. It can also lead to conflict between siblings, as they may have differing opinions on what would be best, or they may not all carry the same share of the load. If you are in a situation where you need to provide care for an aging parent, here are some tips.

Begin discussions as early as possible: 

It is easiest to have conversations about their eventual needs for care with your parents before they are in that situation. Once there is a crisis, then everyone's emotions can make the subject more difficult, as will the need to do something in a hurry. It is also easier to broach the subject with your siblings before the need is immediate. People are more open to a calm conversation about caregiving when they don't feel that it is an urgent demand being placed on them.

Reach out to your siblings: 

It's quite common that siblings do not share the load for parental caregiving equally, but that does not mean that you shouldn't try to involve them. Rather than boldly taking on all of the job yourself, and feeling like a martyr for doing so, reach out to your brothers and sisters, and see if you can enlist their help in some way. You might find that some of them are happy to help, but just didn't know what they could do to be useful.

There are different ways to provide support: 

If you live in the same town as your parents, while your siblings are more distant, it may naturally fall to you to take on a greater part of the responsibility for caregiving. However, just because your siblings aren't around to do things like help with house cleaning or grocery shopping, doesn't mean that they can't provide some assistance in their own way. Perhaps one sibling can take care of getting your parents' finances and paperwork in order. Another might offer to send money to help cover the costs of outside assistance.

How to get more than one sibling involved: 

Some of your siblings may not want to get involved in taking care of older relatives. It's really important to persuade them and make them change their mind. Otherwise, the relationship between you and them will fall apart, not to mention that taking care of an aging parent on your own can be devastating. Talk to them and try to reach an agreement. Share tasks and responsibilities, remember the good times, and do everything you can to put some sense into them.

Understand the financial situation: 

If your parents are still capable of managing their own finances, have a straightforward conversation with them to get a feel for what their situation is. If your parents are starting to lose the capacity to take care of bills and managing money for themselves, you may need to get added for signature authority on their bank account, or start handling things like bills and taxes for them. You need to have an understanding of their financial situation so that if major expenses come up like medical bills or long term care, you know how these things can be handled. If you end up paying for your parent's care, talk to your own financial advisor, and see if you have options such as claiming them as dependents on your own tax return.

When aging parents need care-giving, their children should want to get involved. Home health aides, occupational and physical therapists, and nurses are professionals that can help you learn basic caregiving techniques. However, when only 1 sibling of 5 is willing to help, the whole process becomes a lot more challenging. You can't do everything alone because the chores involved will be detrimental to your personal life. Ask for assistance from terminal care professionals; they will help you go through the process and they may even persuade more siblings to get involved. Children should want to be with their aging parents in the last moment of their lives.

Family Caregiving Resources

The Caregiver Resource Library

The CareGiver Partnership

Further Reading: 

7 Ways to Avoid Sibling Tensions When Caring for an Aging Parent

How to Choose a Senior Home Care Agency

FINAL YEARS Stories of Parent Care, Loss, and Lives Changed

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About The CareGiver Partnership. The CareGiver Partnership helps caregivers and their loved ones with answers to their caregiving questions, including information about home health care products and supplies, from our Wisconsin-based team of Product Specialists who are all current or former caregivers. The company’s Web site provides the largest online library of resources on subjects most important to caregivers — from arthritis to assisted living, and Parkinson’s to prostate cancer — as well as access to more than 3,000 home care products for incontinence, skin care, mobility, home safety and daily living aids. The CareGiver Partnership was founded in 2004 by Lynn Wilson of Neenah, Wisc. Visithttp://www.caregiverpartnership.com to learn more or call 1-800-985-1353.