How to find the right balance

How to find the right balance
McCarthy Stone’s retirement communities offer comfort, peace of mind and the chance to make new friends

‘What goes around comes around’ the old adage says, and that is never more true than in the case of care. Our parents looked after us when we were small children, unerringly and without question. They were always there for us in our teenage years, whatever scrapes we found ourselves in.
But when I was young it never occurred to me that one day they would need to be looked after in the same way that they had looked after me. Nor did I realise how swiftly this reversal of roles can happen.
Like so many members of my busy generation I have little or no time to myself.
Many people of my age have to juggle the multiple balls of work and family, and we are often geographically remote from our parents.
When we started our own families it was most often a planned life stage. Even if it wasn’t, we still had nine months to ready ourselves for how we would cope with looking after the new addition to the family and consider what help we might need.
While we realised as we grew older that one day we might need to find care for our parents, it was always the hope that it would be a long time in the future.
It was easy to put the subject on the back burner and forget about it. Then there was the fact that the subject is not one that is easily broached with parents who find it hard to accept their diminishing health. They were part of a generation that was stoic, and often put up barriers against any suggestion that they might need help.
However, if we’re lucky, old age comes to us all and decisions about how best to care for our parents inevitably have to be made. There then follows the difficulty of making important choices, very often without knowing much about all the options.

HELPING HAND

Should you move your parents into a care home or pay a carer to visit them where they live? Should you employ a local agency to provide carers who will visit two or three times a day, or pay for a live-in carer (which can sometimes be the most cost-efficient way and least disruptive option). Should you organise everything yourself or use a specialist recruitment agency? There are so many different options to consider, yet it need not be as difficult as you might imagine.
While there are so many different possibilities there are two things that are certain: you are not alone, and we can help. In the pages of The Lady and on the jobs board of lady.co.uk you will find details of agencies that can advise and help. Our Situations Wanted section has details of those seeking care work, and if you are contemplating moving your parents into a retirement home you will find some tremendous options there as well.
It is said that a problem shared is a problem halved. At The Lady we are here to listen and help direct you to trusted companies and individuals. We are just a phone call or the click of a button away.