I attended a workshop at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, titled "The Sandwich Generation: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others". One of the topics was the issue of "compassion fatigue" and the challenge of asking for help from others. Compassion fatigue often comes from a common misconception of those in the sandwich generation thinking, " I can do it alone". One woman in the workshop, who had been caring for her mother, mother-in-law and two teenage children, worked full time and had been "doing it all". She shared her success story. Her frail mother had asked her brother to give her rides to the doctor. This inspired a discussion of how to include the older parent in asking other family members and friends to help with specific tasks. What's been your experience in sharing the "care in caregiving"?
Thanks,
Carol

I am also a caregiver for my mother, plus 4 children middleschool and under. I made a list of different things that I could use help with, like:
Take mom's dog to the groomer
Take mom out to get her hair cut
Call in her meds when she needs them
Take her to different appointments, etc.
Once I made this list, I held a family meeting with my siblings and everyone took certain things that they could help with. Any little thing they could do, took a load off me. You could maybe even do this with friends or community members who are willing to help out.

Jolene,
Love your ideas. The more specific the list of things people can help with the easier it is to get help. Glad it worked out.