Thank you for all your lovely supportive comments and suggestions from my last post – I have obviously connected with a lot of people in the same boat, or similar boat, but of course each of our lives and problems are different but I think we all agree on a few points –
- Caring for the elderly and looking after younger grandchildren even at a distance is hard work and falls hard upon our generation – mainly the women – to deliver care as best we can, often whilst running our own homes and working at the same time.
- It can be very frustrating at times in our own advancing years to care for 80 and 90 year olds. I feel like I have spent my middle years caring for firstly my grandparents and then my own parents as well as the in-laws. We try to keep them going in whatever way possible attending to their needs as it becomes too difficult for them to take care of themselves but this route we follow is one that becomes harder to manage, placing additional stress on our own lives and reducing any free time of our own to take care of ourselves and which can often lead to resentment building up – as one or two of you said life starts to feel as if it is passing you by.
- Health problems that require doctor intervention and prescribed drugs, although intended to make us better, could be making us worse or indeed creating new problems for the future.
- Soon we will be the ones who are old and need medication – I hardly know anyone now in my age group who is free of taking any medication.
Mum is back home now and once again my sister is doing the day-to-day care, meanwhile I can at least carry on with a few more of my tasks until it is time to have her to stay again. I have spent the week winding down a bit as I had begun to feel I was welded to the car seat with all the trips up and down the country and I was exceptionally tired after looking after her and her needs.
I have lots of other news to tell you and maybe I will get to share it with you now. It is impossible to blog when my mum is here and I spent last week catching up with myself in the house and with shopping.
I feel like I am back on track now. x
where the journey takes me 2 
I feel the same,I know longer have parents to care for but I do look after my granddaughter two days a week,she is an energetic four year old,on the go 24/7. My husband and I find it very tiring, our days together seem to be fading with looking after her.Our daughter is on her own and leans on us to look after her. Still she will be going to school in September,so respite is on the way and we will be only picking her up from school! It’s always a pleasure reading your blog.
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Sorry I don’t know your name but hi there and thank you for your kind comment – I love to hear from my readers from time to time. It is encouraging to know that our lives are often similar in some respects as we can sometimes feel that we are dealing with difficult situations alone and actually we are not and that is the joy of having a blog. I love hearing about other peoples lives – call me nosy if you will! It is wonderful looking after the grandchildren – you often have more time to spend with them than with your own children but as you say it can be such hard work. Nevertheless I find it more tiring looking after mum than a whirlwind 4 year old – maybe because they are more pleased with the world and don’t complain as much! I hope you find the time to spend on yourselves come September – you will have earned it.
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Such mixed emotions caring for our elderly parents who need assistance. Love. And annoyance at it taking so much time but having to deal with so much complaints. And guilt for feeling annoyed. And relief they are alive. But more guilt for wishing for some peace. And bloody frustration at hearing the same story again.
Not sure I will be very good with a four year old. They need too much undivided attention.
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You captured the feelings spot on about the elderly. The 4 year olds can be cute and entertaining and worth the attention – but draining at the same time.
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