Thought of the Week - Take good care

More and more we hear about aging parents that many of you are busy taking care of. It is frustrating at times and mainly painful and exhausting. I want to share a tip my group of volunteers got a few years ago from a very smart social worker. She said that if a family can afford to pay for the physical care, she urges everyone to do so. The bathing, dressing, preparing the bed and caring physically will be covered so the care giver can be free to give the emotional support the patient needs the most. When we act out of guilt things get messy. We feel we are the ones that need to do everything so the cared ones won't feel abundant. The opposite is the true. When we are physically tired we cannot give the care they need. If we don't take good care of ourselves, there is no way we can be good care takers. Here is a piece of prayer my teacher gave us as care takers: "On behalf of the helpers, we must take care of ourselves - we must care for this being our parents poured out their energy to protect. For their sake, we must honor their efforts, and keep ourselves alive and well." Happy Monday, Yael