How to Take Care of an Elderly Parent, Work at Home, and Retain Your Sanity

Many babyboomers are taking care of their elderly parents these days. That alone is enormously challenging, but add a work at home business, and your last corporate job with the vicious boss starts to look appealing. I'm going to give you some tips to save your sanity. These have all been learned through trial and error while taking care of my mom.

Things You'll Need

• patience
• and more patience

Instructions

1. 

   1. Patience Elderly people move slowly, can't see well, blast the TV , forget to flush the toilet and demand your attention out of loneliness. Practice patience. If you are a patient person to start off with, like me, you're a step ahead. However, even I lose my patience with Mom and snap at her or say things that I regret. It's important to forgive yourself and vow to do better next time.

2. 2. Set aside together time with your parent.
   When I get up in the morning, I reserve the first hour or two for Mom. We have coffee together while watching the news and having conversation. I do the same after dinner. We watch TV together for a couple of hours. I even suffer through Entertainment Tonight, because Mom likes it. Luckily I stay up very late, and after Mom goes to bed, I have a lot of quiet time to myself.

3. 3. Here's the hard part: Working at home. You need to lay down some ground rules when it comes to your work. It's important to have scheduled work time so you can tell Mom or Dad that you are unavailable unless it's an emergency. Stick to your guns! Don't acquiesce under any circumstances other than an emergency; be consistent! I have a hard time with this, because I'm a push over by nature. Mom will decide she wants to go to Target, wants me to go to the store and get her a candy bar, wants me to rearrange her bedroom furniture, etc. Although I have told her over and over that I have to work, she will ignore the rules and ask which stresses me out.

4. * If your parent, like mine, is able to stay alone for a few hours, take your laptop to a coffee shop or bookstore and work. I do this. Mom tries to get around this one too. She'll call on my cell to tell me I've got to pick up her medication, ask what we're having for dinner, or to tell me it's going to rain and I'd better get home. This week I told Mom I was going to Barnes & Noble to work and to not call me to come home. She lasted a lot longer than usual, and just as I was getting ready to go home anyway she called to tell me the trash can blew into the street.

Tips & Warnings

• 4. Do what works best for you. Ask a relative to help you out once a week for a few hours. You may even have a friend who is willing to pitch in every once in a while. If you can afford it, hire someone you trust.

• Remember that you may be elderly someday and in need of your child's help and company.