Sandwich Generation

As I was surfing the web today, researching for a speech about the "Sandwich Generation", it became apparent that everything out there was negative! Being a part of the "Sandwich Generation" has somehow become a bad thing. All of the articles pointed to the stress involved of being tugged by your kids, being tugged by your parents, being tugged by your job and being tugged by your marriage. Whatever happened to being thankful that you have kids, parents, a job and a marriage? Yes, I know first hand the stresses of caregiving with kids and a husband and a job at home. I also know what fun it is to go to your son's hockey game and your daughter's lacrosse game. I also know how rewarding it can be just sitting quietly and watching Law and Order or Monk with your mother in the hospital. If life becomes too overwhelming and you become too stressed, as it will do from time to time, you need to find a solution to the problem. Do you need to cook less, do you need help with the housework, do you need time to workout, do you need someone else to sit with your mother or aunt...? You must first figure out what you need most and then ask for help. You can ask family or friends or if you are financially able, you can pay for it. You can hire a chef, you can hire an errand runner, you can hire a housekeeper or you can hire a caregiver to help take the burden off of you. That is a foundation of our business....caregiving! If you don't have the time to help out and you do it anyway, things will turn out rotten and stressful. When you have another caregiver go in, it will make the time you spend with your mom or dad much more pleasant. You can't change how the world works but you can change how you see the world!