Is Using Validation for Dementia Calming or Condescending?
People with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia often come to live in an altered reality that doesn’t mesh with ours. As an...
Dementia care
Strategies for Getting (and Staying) Organized While Caregiving
There are now many apps available that can help with organizing, but that said, some of these older tips are still valid. Personally, I...
Life As a Caregiver: How to Make Tough Care Decisions
Many of us feel honored to provide care for our aging parents or ill spouses, but this honor can also present serious challenges. Even...
Caregiving Needs to Be a Team Effort
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “there’s no I in team,” meaning that every member on a successful team puts selfishness aside and works...
Caregiver Worried That Mom with Late-Stage Alzheimer’s Sleeps All Day
Dear Carol: I care for my mom in my home. She’s 85, has been living with Alzheimer’s for many years, and is now considered...
The Aftermath of Long-Term Caregiving: Is Stress Your New Normal?
Often long-term caregivers wonder if their lives will ever return to normal. The short answer is no; at least for most of us. There...
10 Tips to Help You “Unplug” from Caregiving
Jen has been caring for her parents for almost two years and she is quickly approaching caregiver burnout. A close friend booked and prepaid...
Not Everyone Is Cut Out to Be a Caregiver
Each of us is unique, with our own talents and flaws. Often, our so-called faults are merely ways in which we differ from society’s...
The Best Ways to Support a Caregiving Spouse
When people get married, they quickly learn that they’ve made a commitment to more than one person. Essentially, you marry your spouse’s whole family....
People with Dementia Might Be More Cooperative If We Show Vs. Tell
Dear Carol: Two years ago, my wife was diagnosed with mixed dementia. I’ve always been a logical, literal, some might say plodding person. My...
