Tips on Sharing Caregiving Duties With Your Family Members

Introduction

When a loved one becomes ill or starts to need assistance with daily tasks, it can be tough for just one person to take on the caregiving responsibilities alone. The balancing act of managing the demands that come with caregiving alongside your own personal life can be a challenging task. When you care for an older parent dividing the responsibilities amongst siblings can make for a much easier life for all of the individuals involved. Caregivers can experience stress and burnout when it comes to providing 100% care for their loved one, which is why it is important for the caregiver to be well mentally, emotionally and physically to be able to provide the best care for their parent or loved one.

Below we share some ways you can distribute the roles of caregiving within your family or with siblings effectively. 

Start With A Family Discussion

Teamwork is very important when providing care as a family, so speak to your family members and together organise and arrange a time and place to get together as a family to discuss your loved one’s needs. It is vital that this conversation takes place when all of your family members are available, as this is the time that each member can offer what they can help with and inform of their own responsibilities, so you are also aware of each other’s needs and demands. It is essential to discuss what each family member is able to do and what their availability is. Keep your loved one receiving care involved with all discussions too, so there is transparency on all parts and they know what is going to happen each day, who will care for them and when. From here you can make a schedule and a detailed plan for present and future care to avoid any uncertainty in the future. This way each family member knows which days they are responsible for caregiving and can plan around this accordingly.

Iron out The Differences

The care needs of a loved one can bring out differences of opinions and various approaches among family members. There may be decisions that need to be made before any caregiving routines are looked into, for instance, will your loved one be living with one of you or staying in their own home, a family member may think a care home is the best option due to other commitments. As above make sure to keep your loved one involved in all decision making as their opinion is the one that matters most. If these sort of issues do arise then you can look into all options and avenues such as a live in carer or a home carer a few times a week could be a helpful addition to the team.

Share The Workload

Each family have their own set of challenges and their own family dynamic to work with. It is imperative to be realistic with each other as no one person is capable of doing it all nor are they able to control everything in life. But if the family all come together and work out a care plan that works for everyone involved then they can create a comfortable home life for their loved one. When distributing tasks and duties consider each other’s strengths and delegate tasks accordingly. Maybe one of you is better and more comfortable with spreadsheets, dealing with financial decisions and organisation, so this could be their duties, dealing with their loved one’s household bills and outside care providers.

Always Communicate with Each Other

Clear communication is important when multiple people are providing care for their loved one, remember to communicate openly and honestly with one another. Be mindful to give each family member updates on any changes to the care of your loved one, this could simply be a quick weekly email, a WhatsApp group message, telephone call or a meeting so all members are up to date and no one is left in the dark. This is especially important when it comes to medications, and health appointments. Make use of the technology available as there are a number of apps for individuals and their carers, such as My GP which allows you to manage medication and doctor and hospital appointments. Another app is Jointly, which was created by carers for carers, it combines group messaging and to-do lists with other useful features, including medication lists, a calendar and more. These apps help to make it easier for those who share the care of a loved one.

Sharing caregiving duties between family members can be quite challenging, but it can also bring the whole family closer. By communicating effectively, sharing the reasonability’s, clearing up any difference of opinions and being flexible you can make the caregiving experience run smoothly and as manageable as possible for all involved.