Your brother and sister don’t get along. If they’re in the same room, they cannot avoid getting into arguments. It’s stressing you out as you’re the mediator every time there’s a gathering. You’ve had enough and want it to end for your parents’ sake. How do you resolve conflicts between family caregivers? Home Care assistance might be a good option to help take the stress out.
Hold Conversations as Early as Possible
The more time you have to arrange schedules, the easier it is to keep your siblings apart. Hold conversations before your parents urgently need help with daily tasks. Come up with a care plan that ensures your brother is there when your sister is at her home and vice versa.
Talk to your parents about what they want. They may still have dreams that their children will get along. They may be able to change opinions due to the traditional parent-child role they’ve always held.
While you’re going over the care your parents need, figure out how much care is necessary. You also want to look at how much time each sibling has. Ideally, you want to split things evenly, but that may not be easy if one sibling has a family at home and another doesn’t.
Divide Tasks to Avoid Conflicts
During this conversation, choose one family member to be the primary family caregiver at their house. The other sibling could do things that help out without requiring a trip to the house. Shopping for groceries and prescriptions online and arranging for home delivery is helpful.
Switch up the tasks from time to time as needed to ensure that everyone gets equal time with your parents. Make sure your siblings know that your parents have to come first and that the days when there is some overlap need to be stress-free.
Set Realistic Expectations
Your siblings will never get along, but you have every right to expect them to act like adults. Make sure that’s clear. They don’t have to like each other, but they need to put your parents first and ignore their feelings in the same room.
Say No
If you’re constantly put in the position of being the family mediator, say no. Refuse to do it and enlist the help of a professional mediator, such as a clergyman or therapist. A neutral third party is often the best way to resolve conflicts and turn the focus back to the thing that matters the most.
Hire Professional Elder Care Aides
When family members don’t get along, it is hard to keep tension from impacting your parent’s care needs. How do you keep conflict from impacting the care you give your mom or dad?
Maybe it’s best to hire professional caregivers for your parents’ elder care needs. Your mom and dad don’t need the added tension. Rather than working with a sibling and creating conflict, hire elder care aides to help your parents.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Care Assistance in Tempe, AZ, or anywhere in the East Valley, please contact the caring staff at Legacy Home Care.
Call (480) 777-0070
Legacy Home Care has been serving the valley since 2007. We are family owned and operated with over 75 caregivers. We offer a customized care plan that includes services such as: Hourly Senior Home Care, 24-Hour Home Care, Dementia Care, Personal Care and Companion Care. Also ask us about our Veterans' Home Care program.
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