Taking care of your own parents can be a lot of work—on top of caring for your children, managing the household, and working a job, too. The reality in most families is that adult daughters take on the majority of the caregiver responsibilities. So what happens when her husband’s parents need help too?

Daughter-in-law to the rescue! Speaking from experience, we do it to help our husband with the stress of caregiving, and maybe we are just better at it. Unfortunately daughters-in-law are often underappreciated and don’t get the credit they deserve. So for all those people who have only sons…treat your daughters-in-law well. They might be your caregiver many years in the future.

Top five reasons adult children need an Aging Life Care Manager:

1. You are stressed and overwhelmed about how to take care of an elderly or disabled family member
2. You have to make decisions quickly due to a crisis, and it is too complex to figure out on your own
3. You are trying to choose an assisted living community and find the options confusing and you do not want to make a mistake
4. You have not been successful on your own in managing challenging behaviors associated with dementia.
5. You do not have the time or expertise to manage the care of your family member and what to hire a professional.

by Joan Garbow, MSW, LCSW, CCM