When a Parent Starts Needing Help
For the point where a parent starts needing help and nobody has said so. It gets what you have noticed written down, asks them what they want first, walks the house for hazards, and divides the jobs with your siblings in writing.
Aging Parents · Caregiving · Family · 9 items · whenever you need it
The checklist
- Write down what you have actually noticed — dates and examples travel better than worry.
- Ask them what they want before deciding — help done over someone's head gets refused.
- Walk the house for the obvious hazards — the rug, the stairs, the water heater, the bath.
- Get the paperwork named while it is easy — who decides, who signs, where the documents live.
- Ask to be at the next appointment — two sets of ears and one written summary.
- Divide the jobs with your siblings in writing — whoever lives closest ends up with all of it.
- Find out what the county offers — rides, meals and day programs exist and go unused.
- Keep one visit that is not about care — an hour with no tasks keeps you their child.
- Say out loud what you cannot do — a limit named early is kinder than one hit later.
Use this checklist Free account: tick items off and keep each day's record.
How to use it
Run through it whenever you need it, honestly and without scoring yourself. A checklist is a way of noticing, not a test: an item you cannot tick is information about the day, not a verdict on you. Over a few weeks the pattern of what gets ticked and what does not says more than any single pass.
With a free Theraglee account the checklist remembers each pass, so you can look back. Without one, you can still read it here and keep your own copy.