Looking after the mental and emotional side of caring, for the parent and for the family.
11 articles on this topic.
If an older parent has become suddenly muddled, agitated, or 'not themselves' over the course of a day or two, the first thing to rule out is not dementia. It is a urinary tract infection. Here is why UTIs cause confusion in older adults, how to spot one, and what to do.
Read article →Repeating the same question every ten minutes is one of the most exhausting bits of caring for a parent with cognitive decline. Here is what is actually happening in her brain, why patience runs out so fast, and the responses that work better than the ones you reach for first.
Read article →It is one of the strangest, hardest phrases to hear from a parent with dementia, and one of the most googled. Here is what is really going on, the lines that work, and the lines that quietly make it worse.
Read article →If you're caring for an older parent and small children at the same time, you're not failing. You're just doing two full-time jobs alongside the actual one. Here's what helps, what doesn't, and the boundaries that matter.
Read article →The phone calls and casseroles slow down after a few weeks. The hardest part is what comes next. Here's what we've learnt about staying close to a newly widowed parent without smothering them or stepping in too soon.
Read article →Telling normal age-related forgetfulness apart from the early signs of dementia is harder than it sounds. Here are the patterns worth noticing, and the gentle ways to find out without alarming anyone.
Read article →Loneliness in older parents rarely announces itself. Here is what to listen for, what changes you should not write off as 'just getting older', and how to bring it up without making them feel like a project.
Read article →If you are waking at 4am with your mind already running through everything you have not done for Mum, you are far from alone. Here is what is actually happening, and a handful of small things that quietly help.
Read article →If you're quietly doing more for Mum than your siblings realise, this is for you. How to make the invisible work visible without it turning into a row.
Read article →There's no universal right answer, but there are signals that tell you whether you're calling too much or too little. Here is the honest version.
Read article →Loneliness in older adults is often quiet. Here are the signals to watch for, and what gentle changes help.
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