This post will be of most interest to adult children.
The author of this blog post on AgingCare.com shares three common excuses from siblings who don’t help with caregiving:
* I don’t have the time.
* I don’t have the money.
* I can’t bear to see mom/dad like that.
The author suggests making a formal care plan and sharing it (with updates) with all siblings either by phone, email or snail mail. Along with each update make a direct request for help. These requests may result in ways in which siblings will widen their perception of how they could be useful or increase their guilt so they do something–anything–more.
Brain Support Network volunteer Denise Dagan read over the article and shares these notes: If direct requests don’t work either, you have to decide when to let the struggle, and anger around it, go. Because, really, the only person you can change is yourself. The author shares how one woman wrote a loving letter of condolences to her siblings about how much they are missing and the peace she will feel at their parents passing having helped them through these difficult years. She reached out to community resources for help and managed entirely without her siblings…and without anger over their not helping.
Here’s a link to the article:
www.agingcare.com/articles/siblings-conflicts-caregiving-for-elderly-parents-142138.htm
Top 3 Excuses From Siblings Who Don’t Help With Caregiving
By Carol Bradley Bursack
AgingCare.com
Un-dated